The Battle of the Very Great vs. Nothing

There's an epic battle going on in many people's lives. Maybe that includes you. It's the Battle of the "Very Great" vs. "Nothing."

You know, like when a problem is "very great," and you've got nuthin. You feel like there's nothing you can do. It's overwhelming. It seems insurmountable. The "very great" always overpowers "nothing." Not much of a battle, it would seem. 

That is, until Jesus shows up. In Mark 8:1, we're told that "In those days..." ...Wait a minute... What days? Well, how about the days Mark was just writing about in Mark 7 where he wrote, "And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, 'He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak'" (Mark 7:37). "Those" days! "In those days," there was a battle raging: the Battle of the "Very Great" vs. "Nothing." Mark described "the multitude being very great and having nothing to eat..." (Mark 8:1). There's the battle! The multitude was very great in number, and the food was scarce. Worse than scarce. There was "nothing to eat."

Perhaps you're facing a situation where a huge expense is worrying you, or a major health issue has caught you by surprise, or a relational difficulty feels hopeless. Whatever the challenge is that you're facing, it can feel "very great." I know because I've had that feeling.

But then Mark continues: ""In those days, the multitude being very great and having nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples to Him and said to them, 'I have compassion on the multitude, because they have... nothing to eat" (Mark 8:1-2).

If you're in the Battle of the "Very Great" vs. "Nothing," you need Jesus. He makes all the difference. He clearly sees the situation, and he knows how overwhelming the challenges feel to us. He also sees how small our resources are, and he lovingly longs to intervene.

But we might look at Jesus and say, "How can anything be done?!" That's what the disciples asked. They asked, "How can one satisfy these people [4,000 people!] with bread here in the wilderness?" (8:4). And you might be asking, "How can I cover these huge expenses, or solve this health issue, or resolve this relational difficulty with the nuthin that I've got?"

Jesus is calm through it all. He simply asks, "What do you have, however little it may seem?" As a bustling multitude of 4,000 people crowded around him, Jesus calmly asked his disciples, "'How many loaves do you have?' And they said, 'Seven.'" (8:5). In other words, Nuthin. Not enough to feed four thousand people! But Jesus still told those 4,000 people to have a seat – it's chow time. It's time to show all these people how much God loves them.  

Perhaps Jesus is asking you what you have. It seem as small as seven loaves for 4,000 people. It may be a shrunken bank account. It may be an empty parking space that comes with your apartment but doesn't come with a car! It may be nothing more than a small act of kindness you can offer to an estranged family member. Even your prayers may feel like a weakened cry to a God who seems far away. 

Jesus can do something big with anything small that's offered in faith. When Jesus arrives on the scene in the Battle of the "Very Great" vs. "Nothing," he can multiply your "nothing" until "they ate and were filled" and there was much "leftover" (8:8). So in fact, the "very great" does not always overpower "nothing" – not when Jesus shows up.

So bring Jesus your seven fish today. Bring him what seems like nothing. And even if your faith feels weak, bring that and ask him to multiply that too! He doesn't reject us for having our doubts. The disciples had their doubts as they objected to Jesus' desire to feed a multitude with nothing. But that didn't sway Jesus. He loves us too much for that. Bring him your nothing, and let him leave you "astonished beyond measure" in these days as well.

© 2023 Ken Peters

Two Questions Worth Asking...

"Then He rose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, 'Peace, be still!' And the wind ceased and there was a great calm." (Mark 4:39). 

What a sight that must have been! The spray of the waves still on their faces, the disciples must have been stunned by the sight of those suddenly placid waters. But then we're told that Jesus asked his disciples, "Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?" (Mark 4:40). 

Amidst all the challenges that each of us face – challenges that may feel like stormy winds and waves – Jesus' questions feels very appropriate in our day as well. It's worth imagining Jesus turning to us and asking, "Why are you so fearful?" 

It's a relevant question. It's relevant because all of us as people can be prone to feeling fear in stormy times. But Jesus' response is to ask, "How is it that you have no faith?" 

I need those two questions to be ringing in my ears DAILY. I have good reason to have faith in Jesus. As I've gotten to know him, and as I've seen what he can do, I have no reason to fear when I know that he is with me. He might as well be saying "Peace, be still" to my own heart.

So it's really worth remembering Jesus' questions whenever we feel anxious or afraid...

"Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?"

© 2023 Ken Peters

The Call before the Calm

We all know what it’s like to feel exhausted. But have we ever been so weary that we’re able to sleep through a storm while in an open boat with drenching waves sweeping over it?

That’s how tired Jesus was as he wearily climbed into a boat with his disciples and told them to sail to the other side of the lake. Though he had the power to heal, his body also felt fatigue. The Son of God fully experienced our frailty as a man. 

I can just see him crawling to the back of the boat where there was a ragged fishy-smelling cushion of sorts, and curling up with it in the space he could find amidst the folded nets and coiled ropes. He may have been asleep before the sails were even raised. 

We don’t know how long it was before the storm hit, but we know it was fierce. Mark tells us that “waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling” (Mk. 4:37). Matthew tells us that the boat was “being swamped by the waves” (Mt. 8:24). And Luke tells us that they “were in danger” (Lk. 8:23)!

As the winds began to roar, the waves would’ve grown until the boat was being tossed upon them and drenched under them. There would’ve been shouting from the disciples as they hurriedly lowered the sails, and started to bail. And through it all, Jesus slept. 

None of the commotion woke Jesus. I can just see the disciples scrambling and jostling to stay afloat, wiping the sea spray of the pounding waves from their faces, and occasionally stealing glances at Jesus, wondering how he could sleep through it all. Perhaps Peter shouted to Andrew or to John, “Should we wake him?”

As they shook him awake, they shouted above the tumult, “Master, don’t you care? We’re perishing here in this terrible storm!” Picture Jesus struggling to focus on their faces as he stirred from a deep sleep, his face wet with spray, and then looked around at the storm that was assaulting them, then back into their eyes with greater clarity in his gaze. 

Of the three accounts of this story, I like Matthew’s best due to one small way in which he specifies the sequence of events. In all three accounts, Jesus questions the disciples’ lack of faith, but it’s only in Matthew’s account that we’re told that Jesus asks them this amidst the tumult, before calming the storm (Mt. 8:26). 

I love imagining Jesus sitting there, shouting to be heard above such a fearsome storm — “Why are you so afraid? Where’s your faith?” — while waves crashed into the reeling vessel, and as some of the disciples still bailed with all their might. I can picture Jesus’ wet hair whipping in the wind, his eyes squinting in the lashing spray as he looked into the eyes of his disciples’ tired and fearful faces. Then he called on them to believe while the winds wailed.

Their fearful response was obvious, but Jesus didn’t respond to their fear by refusing to help them. As they tried to deal with the storm by their own desperate devices, he didn’t tell them that if they don’t have faith, they’ll see no miracles. Jesus is not a punitive Saviour. 

Matthew wrote, “Then he rose” (Mt. 8:26), and majestically turned from the doubtful disciples to the defiant winds and raging waves and said, “‘Peace! Be still!’ And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm” (Mk. 4:39). 

The bailing suddenly stopped as flabbergasted disciples stared out at the suddenly placid sea. There was no more shouting as the wind no longer roared in their ears. The winds had obeyed him. The undercurrents of the sea obeyed him. “Who is this?” the disciples asked one another in hushed tones. “Even winds and sea obey him!” (Mt. 8:27). 

Fast-forward to the boats of our lives today, and Jesus still calls his followers to trust him amidst the troubles of this world. And I’m so relieved that he doesn’t wait for us to be pure in faith before acting on our behalf. As winds lash at my face, I can be sure that Jesus is with me and has all authority to calm the storms in my life even as he calls me to believe him while I’m still in the midst of the storms.

© 2020 Ken Peters

I want a new meme

I’ve heard it said that courage is not a lack of fear, but is carrying on despite our fears. Many variations of this quote have been attributed to Mark Twain, Nelson Mandela, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Bruce Lee (among others). I particularly like the version attributed to John Wayne: “Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.”

There’s a good deal of truth to this idea that it’s courageous to press on despite being afraid. A Christian might even be tempted to think that God wrote the original version of that quote. But if God made a meme of what He had to say about fear, is that what He’d write? I wondered that today as I read a verse that said, "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go" (Joshua 1:9). Notice it doesn't say, Be courageous even though you're frightened and dismayed. No, it simply says: Don't fear!

Another verse came to mind as I considered that. "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand" (Isaiah 41:10). Is God actually defining courage in these verses as the absence of fear, contrary to the definitions that our culture provides in various memes out there? Does God actually want us to have a courage that's fearless because of how big and how strong and how faithful we believe our God to be?

What these two verses (and many other Bible verses) have in common is that they literally command us to have no fear and then they change the focus from fear (or from what we're afraid of) to a focus on God. In other words, by focusing entirely on God instead of on circumstances, it's possible for fear to vanish and for us to be left standing there with Almighty God, facing the same situation that we'd previosly been so frightened of, but no longer afraid. How is that possible?

The only way it's possible is if we personally know the God of the Bible for who He really is. When Joshua was told, "for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go", Joshua was meant to remember the God who had already provided Israel with a mighty deliverance from Egypt and with faithful care in the wilderness. When we take our eyes off of what scares us and choose to truly focus on the mighty and faithful God who is with us, God expects fear to flee away. In this way, if we know God for who he really is, and keep our spiritual eyes on him in all circumstances, courage can actually be the absence of fear.

But this will all be a pipe dream if God is just a theological construct in our minds. It’s when we’re convinced that God is always with us, know Him for who he really is, and continually look to Him for help that we can adopt a new definition of courage in our lives (which is actually a very old definition):  Courage is the absence of fear when we’re focused on the mighty God who is always with us!

© 2018 by Ken Peters

Look for the Cross

Lately I've been increasingly aware of old long-standing lies that are competing for space in my heart with precious Biblical truths that I've also long believed. When the lies get loud enough, I find myself having to ask, what is it I'm going to believe? What am I going to accept as the truth in my life?

When this battle gets fierce -- and I know it is when the lies get loud enough to feel extremely convincing -- there's only one way to be sure of what the truth is: Look for the cross. That's because the cross marks the spot where God showed us the truth about Himself and about His relationship with us. You want to know God who God is? Do you want to know what He thinks of you? Look for the cross. Look at Jesus on the cross: the Lamb of who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29)!

Jesus is the "exact representation" of God's nature (Hebrews 1:3), and that is why He could confidently say of Himself, "I am the truth" (John 14:6). Jesus is where we find the truth, and Jesus on the cross is the greatest expression of the truth Jesus came to reveal. The Apostle John described Jesus' coming by writing, "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). The glory John saw is the same glory Moses was given the privilege of seeing when He asked God, "Please, show me Your glory!" (Exodus 33:18). And when God's glory passed by Moses, the declaration Moses heard was, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abounding in goodness and truth" (Exodus 34:6)!

There it is again: Truth, mingled with mercy and grace -- which is the very same glory that Jesus expressed on the cross. The cross is the most profound picture of God's mercy and compassion that the world will ever see. In His perfect representation of God, Jesus took what was privately revealed on a mountaintop to make it a public proclamation on a humble hill outside Jerusalem. God's Truth, the incarnate Word of God, hung on the cross to express the truth of who He really is and of what He really thinks of us. 

We hear from that cross the forgiveness that each one of us needs to hear as Jesus even forgave those who put Him there (Luke 23:34). We sense the assurance of His love as He says to the thief who acknowledges Jesus' Lordship in his final hours of life, "Today you shall be with Me in Paradise" (Luke 23:43). And we rejoice in the finality of what He accomplished for us, leaving nothing for us to do to earn the love His sacrifice expressed, as he shouted, "It is finished!" (John 19:30). That is the truth I choose to embrace. And the cross marks the spot where that truth was most emphatically declared.

© 2015 by Ken Peters

Walking blind. It's good for me.

When we get out of bed each day, we really don't have a clue, do we? We may think we do, but when we really think about it, how sure can we be of what's going to happen each day? Yeah, we've got plans, but do we really know all that's going to come our way between waking up and hitting the hay? But even though certainty in circumstances is an illusion, we can walk each day with confidence when we know that God is leading the way. I think of this as walking blind. I don't know what's coming, but God does, and He has me by the hand.

Abraham understood this when God told him to get up and go to an unknown land that God would show him (Genesis 12:1). I love F.B. Meyer's almost poetic description of Abraham's response: "Whither he went, he knew not; it was enough for him to know that he went with God. He leant not so much upon the promise as upon the Promiser: he looked not on the difficulties of his lot -- but on the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God; who had deigned to appoint his course, and would certainly vindicate Himself."

Every morning, God calls us to get up and enter an unknown day. Where today will take me I don't know for sure, but it's enough to know that God is with me, that He loves me and has everything under control. It's enough to know that God is good and wants to guide me through each day. I just need to let Him as I pay attention to Him in every room I enter and on every road I travel. 

Walking blind takes faith, but if we choose to do so, God will lead us to yet unknown destinations we will only reach by trusting Him; exciting God-destinations that we will only get to with God leading the way. "Ah, glorious faith!" writes F.B. Meyer, "this is thy work, these are thy possibilities! – contentment to sail with sealed orders, because of unwavering confidence in the love and wisdom of the Lord High Admiral"!

© 2014 by Ken Peters

People-Watching with Jesus

Can you imagine Jesus having a moment of uninterrupted downtime while sitting amidst a crowd of people? It always seems like the crowds would never leave Him alone. But in Mark 12:41, we’re told that "He sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money in the offering box" (Mark 12:41) as if no one even knew He was there. This is Jesus people-watching. Imagine that. Imagine Jesus actually being able to sit down in a public place in Jerusalem during the Passover week, unaccosted by the crowds. It was only a few days before His crucifixion, and yet there He was just sitting and watching the people of the city, all of them unaware that the Prince of Peace was sitting off to the side lovingly studying their movements. I find that a mesmerizing scene.

I can imagine a gentle and thoughtful expression in his eyes as he watched the faces of one person after another visiting the treasury to place their offerings. What must he have been thinking as he watched them all? Matthew 9:4 and 12:25 tell us that Jesus could know people's thoughts. Perhaps He knew the thoughts and motives, the boasts and fears, of every person He watched at the treasury that day. He obviously knew enough to know that most "contributed out of their abundance," but that the poor widow He saw "put in everything she had, all she had to live on" (Mark 12:44). The fact that He knew all that meant that He seemed to know more than what you or I could've been sure of.

And He must have been sitting alone as He did this people-watching, because once He saw the poor widow put in her "two small copper coins" (v.42), He "called His disciples to Him" (v.43) to explain what He'd just seen. Can you imagine that? Something like, "Hey guys! Come here! I just saw something amazing!"

So what, you might say. What I've just described has nothing to do with the point of the story. Or maybe it does. For me, these thoughts highlight something that really encourages me. They tell me that our loving Saviour, Jesus, is a people-watcher. He's sitting in heaven and watching you and me right now, and He takes special notice when we take a step of faith. He gets excited, and perhaps He says, "Hey Father!" or "Hey angels! Come here! I just saw something amazing!" Jesus sees our fears and our faith as we take risks that reflect our trust in Him -- the kind of risks that widow took -- and he boasts about us to those around Him.

That's because He loves each of us as much as He loved that widow. No act is too small to go unnoticed, and no step of faith too trivial, or too fraught with fear, to go unaffirmed by the God who sees everything that's in our hearts. And that's encouraging for anyone who feels like they haven't got much more than two small copper coins to offer God.

© 2011 by Ken Peters

Careful now...

If I'm not careful, I can end up saying some fairly negative things when circumstances unexpectedly go sour on me. It's not even just the big problems that can lead to this, but even the little things that go wrong at the wrong time that can really get me murmuring. Contexts in which I'm particularly vulnerable are when I'm already under pressure, or when many things go wrong in quick succession, or when things break that I don't have the cash or the capability to fix. And the more serious the issue, the more tempted I feel in allowing myself to go down the tubes.

So it strikes me as appropriate that after King Ahaz of Judah had been made aware that Israel and Syria were teaming up to attack him, Isaiah's first words to Ahaz were, "Be careful, be quiet, do not fear..." (Isaiah 7:4). When things go wrong -- even dreadfully wrong -- I truly want those words to immediately run through my mind:  Be careful -- be quiet -- do not fear.

I need to be careful about where I allow my thoughts to wander; about not creating my own little atmosphere of negativity by the thoughts I allow myself to entertain; about where I see God in it all; about not seeing my problems as greater than God.

I need to be quiet lest I speak out of unbelief, and simply discourage myself; lest I give voice to thoughts I'd be wiser to repent of; lest I speak like a fool who refuses to see God in my circumstances; lest I babble on about my fears, thereby increasing them, when I have no need to fear at all!

Isaiah's command to not fear is such a familiar one that we read so often throughout the Bible, but it seems to me that Isaiah's first words, to "Be careful, be quiet" were just as important for someone facing what feels like an overwhelming trial. If we take care regarding how we respond to life's troubles, they will be much less likely to get under our skin and irritate our soul, and we will find ourselves much more often able to face life's difficulties with faith rather than with fear.

© 2011 by Ken Peters

Needing no "ifs" to Believe God

I've always found it such a striking statement when Jesus bluntly says that even if a man should rise from the dead, people still won't necessarily be convinced of his message (Luke 16:31). But Jesus said it, and it was true of the Pharisees He said it to. They didn't believe Jesus' words even when guards came from Jesus' tomb telling them of an earthquake at the tomb and of an angel who shone like lightning and who rolled away the stone from the tomb's entrance (Matthew 28:2-4, 11-15). Even when the disciples began proclaiming that Jesus had risen from the dead and began performing miracles in His name, the Pharisees still refused to believe Jesus' message. And I think a part of the reason I'm so struck by Jesus' statement is that I still struggle with unbelief in the light of so many living illustrations of God's goodness and grace.

From the stories in God's Word to the stories of my times to the stories of my life, I continually see and hear of what God can do, promises to do, and does -- and yet it's obvious that I'm not fully persuaded of God's goodness. Otherwise, why the struggle in my soul with unbelief? Why the occasional anger with God, offended by His apparent unconcern regarding unanswered prayers? I'm no different than the Pharisees in this, and Jesus might as well have been speaking to me when He said that even if someone should rise from the dead, I wouldn't necessarily be convinced of all they had to say. Jesus rose, and there are still days I doubt Him.

For the Pharisees, the issue was hardness of heart. God forbid that I should harden my heart to God due to my own disappointments! Jesus has been kind enough to open my eyes to see Him for who He really is, and I should need to see nothing else to know that God is good and His plans are perfect. No "ifs" -- no demands. I can simply believe God's Word even when I don't fully understand God's ways. His appeal is clear: "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent" (John 6:29).

© 2011 by Ken Peters

The Path to True Rest

As Christmas approaches, I'm really looking forward to having a few extra days off from work. I've outgrown the anticipation of gifts, but in its place is a craving for calm -- a time to dial down and relax. But I'm all too aware from past experience that such rest can be elusive, even when my schedule is emptied. And I also know it's possible to end a holiday break as weary as the day it began, even if I do very little during that break. I think that's because I'm seeking external rest when what I really need is internal rest. I'm resting my body while my heart remains restless.

And as I was reading the Letter to the Hebrews in my Bible this month, I think I began to understand the path to the kind of rest I really need. In Hebrews 4, the writer mentions "the promise of entering His rest" (4:1), and assures us that that promise still stands. But then he issues a warning about the rest God promises us: "let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it." That's a valid warning, because in my harried and weary state, I sometimes wonder if I'm failing to reach that wonderful rest God promises, and such uncertainty only adds to the disquiet in my soul. So what to do?

It was only when I noticed what the writer had just been writing about in the previous chapter that I realized the kind of rest he was meaning, and saw how I could remain in the deep, meaningful rest God promises. Just a few verses earlier, in Hebrews 3:12, there is another warning issued: "Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God." That's a serious warning. And six verses later, referring to God's posture toward the children of Israel, it says, "And to whom did he swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to to enter because of unbelief" (3:18-19). In other words, the evil of unbelief in their hearts robbed God's people of God's rest.

Does that same warning apply to me? And is it possible to have a whole sabbatical (let alone a brief Christmas break), and still not feel at rest at the end of it all if one doesn't heed such a warning? Well, as the writer continues and addresses the Christians he was writing to, he says, "Since therefore it remains for some to enter it [God's rest], and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience [the disobedience of unbelief], again He appoints a certain day, 'Today,' saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, 'Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden you hearts.'... So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God... Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience" (4:6-11). That "same sort of disobedience" he's writing about was the disobedience of unbelief that he'd previously mentioned (in 3:18-19). And that hardening of their hearts is also a reference to what we're doing when we walk in unbelief.

This means that true rest -- the "rest" God promises -- the rest my soul continually craves -- is something we can only find by believing God. Because if the sin of unbelief is what prevented God's people from entering His rest, it only seems fair to say that the virtue of believing God will open the door to God's rest. In fact, I wonder if it's fair to say that believing God is the "rest" God promises in Hebrews 4:1. Believing God is rest for our souls. And we lose that rest every single time we fall into unbelief.

So as I long for rest and refreshment during this Christmas season, I'd be wise to note that the surest way to find rest for my soul is to take God at His Word, to trust His promises, to accept His instructions and to walk in His ways because I believe His will to be "good and acceptable and perfect" (Romans 12:2). That's rest. That's freedom from the pain of trying to get things done my way.

And as I've pondered all this, I was alarmed at the thought of how easily unbelief can creep into my heart and rob me of the rest of believing God. The antidote is to attack unbelief wherever I see it in my life -- to turn from it quickly, and by God's grace, to grab that door-handle of believing God so that I can enter His rest as easily as stepping into a room full of God's promises. Now that sounds like Christmas!

© 2010 by Ken Peters

Growing in faith

How on earth did Abraham keep believing God for promises that took 25 years to be fulfilled?  Abraham had no written Scriptures to read and be encouraged by.  There were no biographies written about saints who had gone before him to read and be inspired by. He was surrounded by a pagan culture with no faith community to support him through those 25 years of waiting (Genesis 12:1-4; 21:1-5).  And the longer things took, the more impossible it must have seemed that that promise would ever come to pass.  In fact, all those years of waiting would have given Abraham plenty of opportunities to second-guess God and to wonder, "Did God really say...?"

And yet, Romans 4:20 says "with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief" (NASB) or "no distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God" (ESV).  How did he do that?!  Or perhaps I should be asking about how -- with the myriad of spiritual supports and encouragements that I'm surrounded by -- can I so easily fall prey to struggles with unbelief or a lack of trust in God?  Obviously I have something to learn from Abraham.

Paul tells us in Romans 4:20 how Abraham kept believing amidst so many obstacles:  "he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God" (ESV).  It was glorifying God that cultivated his convictions and strengthened his faith.  In other words, he firmly focused more on God than on the obstacles.

This means I've got to be ready to praise God amidst any circumstances, thereby declaring that I don't believe any circumstances can trump God.  Praise is the language of faith.  This means exalting and worshiping God regardless of delays or disappointments. And as I do all that from a sincere heart, this verse is proof to me that God will then grow in my perceptions and my faith in Him will rise.  That is the way to grow in faith so that no distrust will make me waver concerning the promise of God!  Praise and worship of God regardless of what's going on around me. That's a choice we face daily, and it's a choice with a certain outcome: increased faith.  Not to mention, wonderful promises fulfilled!

© 2010 by Ken Peters

What a scene!

There are times when I need to re-examine my expectations of Jesus.  And recently, as I read Matthew 15:30-31, I felt the need to do so again.  It's quite an amazing scene.  And I don't think I've ever actually paused long enough at these two brief verses to consider what it would've been like to be there.  It says that "the crowd marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking and the blind seeing" (Matthew 15:31).

Imagine the excitement! The exclamations being shouted and the joy and amazement of all the people!  Over there is a woman excitedly speaking for the first time in years -- people crowding around her, grinning and laughing at the wonderful sound of her voice.  And over there is an old man who'd been maimed for years, surrounded by his awe-struck family, joyfully demonstrating all the ways he can freely move about, and how he can lift his giggling grandchildren high in the air without pain.  And there is a man who'd previously been paralyzed, running around a bunch of laughing people, chasing children, everyone overjoyed to see him on his feet for the first time since a childhood accident. And closer to Jesus, who is smiling happily, is a young woman who is crying with joy as she sees the smiling tear-stained face of her father for the very first time.  And there are others celebrating additional miracles before a crowd who is glorifying God at the sight of so many laughing, cheering, crying, hysterical people!

It's a stunning snapshot of Jesus' ministry.  Heaven invading earth.  So do I believe God calls us to create such scenes?  Or am I a cessationist at heart when faced with the idea of seeing miracles on such a grand scale as this?  I'm challenged by it, to be sure.  But more so, I'm excited by it!  Because there's no reason to believe that God wouldn't want to create the same scene today as His children take up their delegated authority to "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons." (Matthew 10:8).  Through our obedience to such commands, heaven can continue to invade this world!

© 2010 by Ken Peters

Using both pedals of the bike

During the two years that I've been writing in this blog about perseverance and trust, and about faith and hope, and about my wife's health, it's always felt a challenge to accurately express what I believe without feeling like I'm contradicting myself.

On the one hand, I want to write about how the Bible teaches us that God is glorified by how we trust Him amidst whatever troubles we face in this world, no matter how unpleasant they may be and no matter how long they last.  That way, when people around us see that we can have real peace and joy and gratitude no matter what the circumstances, we will clearly demonstrate that God is our treasure above all else, and that even if we lose everything -- even our lives -- but still have Christ, we would call that "gain" (Philippians 1:21).

On the other hand, I want to write about how the Bible teaches us that God is glorified by how we persistently pursue Him as the One who can deliver us from desperate circumstances, trusting Him as the God who can do miracles to rescue or heal us.  That way, when people around us see the great deliverances God can work for those who cry out to Him in faith, God will clearly be seen as the God who lovingly responds to those who depend on Him (James 5:15).

So I find myself writing that God is glorified when we faithfully trust Him in the midst of troubles, and that God is glorified when our prayers of faith result in deliverance from troubles.  Which is it?  Trust or change? Trusting God's wisdom to allow certain difficulties to persist in my life as He rules and reigns amidst every circumstance, or seeking to change things in this world through persistent prayer or by exercising the authority God has delegated to His disciples?

I believe the answer is both.  I've certainly written about both those themes in this blog.  For me, those two perspectives represent the two pedals on the bike of the Christian life (metaphorically speaking, of course).  To live as a Christian with only one of those two perspectives is like awkwardly riding a bicycle with only one pedal.

In a sense, this is the Biblical tension between God's sovereign decree that "In this world you will have trouble" (John 16:33) and God's encouragement for us to not lose heart in prayer because God will surely "bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night" (Luke 18:7).  This suggests that there are difficult circumstances we must go through in order to grow in character (Romans 5:3-4), to grow in endurance (James 1:2-3) and to grow in faith (1 Peter 1:6).  It also suggests that there are other times when God wants us to persistently and confidently pursue Him for a change in our circumstances so that we will be more fruitful (John 15:16) and more joyful (John 16:24), and so that we would "find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:16) and God would be glorified as He helps us (John 14:13).

Sometimes it's not easy to know which of those two outlooks to adopt when we face a mountain in our life.  My rule of thumb is to seek to move the mountain by "the prayer of faith" (James 5:15) in Jesus (pedal #1), all the while trusting Jesus as my Sufficiency as I pray about that mountain -- especially if the mountain simply refuses to budge (pedal #2).  That's how I keep moving forward in my Christian life, come what may!

© 2010 by Ken Peters

When faced with extremes

As I've read the Gospels lately, I've felt increasingly aware of how extreme the circumstances were for the people who turned to Jesus for help. Some of the terminology used expresses just how desperate people must have been. Try this one: "Your daughter is dead" (Luke 8:49). Wow. Or how about this one: "she could not be healed by anyone" (Luke 8:43). Those are extreme examples of need, indicating how bad it got for some of the people who came to Jesus. We're told that the woman who couldn't be healed by anyone had spent all her wages on doctors who had failed her. And we're told that the daughter who died was the parents' only daughter. Dead. Broke. Hopeless. Why does Luke go out of his way to paint such extremely harsh pictures?

I believe it's simply because Luke wanted his readers to clearly see how amazingly great God is! No matter how extreme our situation, God is greater! The Bible tells us that God even allowed situations to become extreme so that He could better reveal His glory. In the story about a man born blind (certainly an extreme circumstance), Jesus' disciples asked Jesus who had sinned to leave the man with such a harsh lot in life. Jesus said that it had nothing to do with anyone's sin. God allowed it to happen "so that the work of God might be displayed in him" (John 9:3). In such extreme situations, God glorifies His name as He shows us the contrast between what was and what it can become when we cry out to Him and He intervenes.

All of that is meant to give us hope for when we face extremes situations. As my wife Fiona and I go through what feels like something harsh or extreme, God wants us to believe that no matter how extremely bad things get, God can do something about it! He wants us to believe -- to dare to hope -- to dare to reach out to Him, and to cry out to Him. And in order to help us to do so, God shows us a daughter who's "dead" and a woman who "could not be healed by anyone."  And then He shows us something wonderful!  He shows the parents of that girl risking faith in His name, and the woman who'd been sick for so many long years choosing to believe that Jesus could help her, and then Jesus raises the daughter from the dead and completely heals a desperate woman. Amazing!

So I can't allow myself to be intimidated by extremes. No situation is too far gone for God to turn it around. And I must realize that God sometimes actually allows things grow increasingly extreme so that we can better see His glory when He intervenes. That's why I must never let such circumstances eclipse God. God is much bigger than whatever I may be facing and He invites me to cry out to Him in faith and with hope.  By doing so, we will be seen to be fully depending on Him no matter what the circumstances, and He will be seen in all His glory by the great contrast between our crises and His amazing answers.

© 2010 by Ken Peters

Keeping God in the Picture (church bulletin cover)

There are times when personal issues come up in our lives that seem intimidatingly strong.  Impregnable.  Impossible to overcome.  They can leave us feeling like a little soldier who's standing all alone and staring way, way up at a great stone wall that's vastly higher than us, and so thick that it may as well be a mountain that we're banging on. It can be a hopeless feeling.

But look at what the Lord God did for the children of Israel: "And we took all his cities at that time... Sixty cities... All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates and bars" (Deuteronomy 3:4-5).  These were the same sort of cities that the ten spies had described when they discouraged the children of Israel from entering the Promised Land forty years earlier -- cities that were "fortified and very large" (Numbers 13:28).  It's not that the spies hadn't described those cities accurately.  It's just that their descriptions led the people to the wrong conclusions. Those cities were strong.  "Greater and mightier than yourselves" (Deut. 9:1).  Too big and strong for Israel to handle.  But if that's all we see, we're living like a people with no God.  Where is God in it all?

Deuteronomy 3:22 says, "You shall not fear them, for it is the Lord your God who fights for you."  God completes the picture, for He is always with us.  So as we stare up at the cold stone walls of the most challenging personal issues we're facing -- whether they be fears or finances, illness or estrangement -- we must not allow ourselves to be intimidated.  "Be strong and courageous." was what God told Joshua, "for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go" (Joshua 1:9).  There is Someone standing with us who dwarfs the granite walls that dwarf us, and He can crush them with a word from His mouth.  But God invites us to be a part of the battle, for God wants us to grow in faith as we learn to fight the fight of faith.  Just as when Israel later defeated five Amorite kings in a single battle, Joshua said to the children of Israel, "Do not be afraid or dismayed!  Be strong and courageous, for thus the Lord will do to all your enemies against whom you fight" (Joshua 10:25).

So like the children of Israel, we will wage these battles together, encouraged that the Lord is fighting for us!  And we will see many walls come tumbling down.

© 2010 by Ken Peters

A view of healing & the sovereignty of God I've never heard quite this way before

I've had my struggles over the past 20+ years as my wife Fiona's kidneys have gradually grown worse and worse until she ended up on dialysis.  Wanting to believe that God heals today when we pray today, I and others have prayed for her many times, but only to see her health grow worse.  Amidst all this, in an effort to find peace with God amidst so many disappointments, my theology has gradually shifted toward an emphasis on God's sovereignty regarding the timing of His answers for such prayers.  In other words, if I can just see how God has a purpose for such lengthy delays in answering, I can be at peace that all is well, and that my wife is still living in the midst of God's plan for her life, and that her healing will happen when the time is right.  After all, she certainly has grown tremendously through her trust in God amidst all the challenges of this illness.  Obviously God is using these circumstances for good.

And then today I watched the following video and it bent my brain. It's from Bill Johnson, the pastor of Bethel Church in Redding, California that has seen many miracles of healing.  Sometime just after the 5:20 mark, I thought my brain's hard drive was about to crash.  And yet, even though I have no idea how the Biblical promise and purpose of suffering fits in with this man's theology, there's something in what he teaches that stirs me to greater passion to pray.  I'm processing... processing...

Check it out, and I'd appreciate your comments if you have any thoughts about it.



© 2010 by Ken Peters

Believe!

The last installment of a brief series of personal reflections on how I feel God has been posturing me for this new decade. Nothing profound. Just an honest and vulnerable look at where I'm at and who God is revealing Himself to be to me.

My wife Fiona has been looking for a specific kind of wall hanging for our front landing. She wants to hang the word Believe on the wall we see as we come and go through our front door (...and of course, she has a very specific style in mind that's made finding the right word Believe a bit of a challenge!).

The word believe can at times seem either ridiculous or inspiring, or both, depending on your circumstances. And from a Biblical perspective, it doesn't appear that God always wants to direct our lives in such a way that it's easy to believe. A good example of this is the very first place we see the word believe in the Bible. It says of Abraham in Genesis 15:6, "And he believed the Lord..." That phrase in that context flies in the face of all reason, of all biological realities, and of simple common sense. Picture it: Abraham and Sarah were very old and had no children, and God visits Abraham to tell him that his offspring will be as numerous as the stars! Abraham's response is what makes him the father of our faith: he believed God.

I don't know about you, but I don't find believing God in the face of extreme odds -- in the face of stiff opposition -- in the face of uncontrollable uncertainties -- in the face of great hindrances -- in the face of impossibilities easy. In fact, I often end up in unbelief when facing such circumstances. But not Abraham. He believed God when promised something that looked impossible. And even in the midst of his struggles to trust God, as details in the next couple chapters reveal (Genesis16:3-4 and 17:18), Abraham still chose to believe what God had promised him.

Believe. I want to get that through my head and into my heart. I'm a so-called "believer" on account of my belief in Jesus Christ as my Saviour, so can I be a believer in God's goodness and love as I walk with Jesus through hard times? Believe. That's what I want to do. "And I believed the Lord..." I want that to be said of me when people look at my life. By God's grace, I want to believe God's Word, God's love, God's promises, and God's prophetic words. I want to believe despite odds, despite obstacles, despite opposition, despite circumstances, despite delays, despite doctor's reports, despite popular opinion and despite myself.

May God help me to believe Him to be who He is and to do what only He can do. May God help me to believe Him for more than what my flesh would be quite ready to settle for. Because the God I know is truly worthy of such confidence.

© 2010 by Ken Peters

The Great Faith of those who have Little Faith (part 4 in a series on faith)

(Not so much a series of teachings as much as a series of personal reflections on Bible passages that God has used to stir my heart regarding this important matter of faith amidst the challenges He has led me through. See part 3.)

I don't know about you, but I'm easily inclined to view Jesus' rebukes to His disciples for their lack of faith as being applicable to me. Jesus says numerous times to them, "You of little faith" and in Luke 9:41, "You unbelieving and perverted generation!" That's a strong rebuke, and if it's true of Jesus' first disciples (to whom it was addressed), it must be even more true of me! For that reason, I tend to take those rebukes to heart and can end up feeling discouraged by the little faith that I have.

But I don't believe that was Jesus' intent. I've noticed something else about the two stories that surround the rebuke in Luke 9:41 -- stories that are about Jesus' disciples going out and doing miracles in Jesus' name. Luke 9:1-6 speaks of the twelve going out, and says they were "preaching the Gospel and healing everywhere" (9:6). And Luke 10:1-24 speaks of the seventy going out to "heal the sick" (10:9) and of how they "returned with joy, saying, 'Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name'" (10:17).

Now I think that is what Jesus wants me to be mindful of when reading these chapters in Luke. Yes, I need to grow in faith -- yes, Jesus wants me free of unbelief -- but Jesus also wants me to realize how much can be accomplished by disciples who have only a little faith! When He said, "You unbelieving and perverted generation" to His disciples, Jesus didn't intend to leave His disciples discouraged over how unbelieving they were. He was expressing a heartfelt burden for them to grow in faith, and it wasn't long before He sent them out a second time ready to do miracles in His name.

What this tells me is that, yes, there will be times when I encounter situations beyond my present level of faith, but that shouldn't leave me discouraged. Because God can take someone without faith for some situations to do miracles in others! That's why I can't allow myself to become so fixated on my limited faith that I'm paralyzed with a fear of failure or of disappointment. These chapters in Luke tell me that God can still use those who sometimes struggle in faith, and can even use such people -- like me -- to do miracles in His name!


© 2009 by Ken Peters

Faith: A Precious Commodity (part 3 in a series on faith)

(Not so much a series of teachings as much as a series of personal reflections on Bible passages that God has used to stir my heart regarding this important matter of faith amidst the challenges He has led me through. See part 2. Go to part 4.)

Faith in God is something precious for those who have it. The apostle Peter called it "more precious than gold" as he wrote to Christians who were facing persecution that was testing their faith (1 Peter 1:7). But I sometimes feel like it takes only a minor test of my faith to feel in short supply of it. A little thing goes wrong and I can end up struggling to believe God will help me.

But faith is way too valuable to lose it so easily! It's clear from how Matthew describes Jesus' ministry in Matthew 9, that faith was an essential factor in the miracles Jesus did for people. After the woman with the hemorrhage touched Jesus' cloak, Jesus said to her that "your faith has made you well" (Matthew 9:22). Six verses later, Jesus asks two blind men who had come to Him if they believed He could help them: "'Do you believe that I am able to do this?' They said to Him, 'Yes, Lord'" (Matthew 9:28). So Jesus healed them and said, "It shall be done to you according to your faith" (Matthew 9:29). That makes faith pretty important!

For someone like me who feels as though my faith has been weakened by personal disappointments, it's encouraging to see how the above stories are sandwiched between two references to the certainty of Jesus' love for sinful and distressed people. In Matthew 9:10-13, Jesus was accused of eating with "tax collectors and sinners" (9:11), and His response was to say that He desires to show mercy to those who are sinners (9:13). Then in Matthew 9:35-38, as Jesus was traveling through all the cities and villages, it says, "When He saw the crowds, He had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd" (9:36).

So if the Gospel stories of healing in Matthew 9 cause me to become worriedly introspective, wondering if I have enough faith for my prayers to be answered, I don't have to look far to find stories of Jesus' mercy and compassion that should get my eyes off of myself and onto Jesus where they should've been all along! After all, that's who the woman with the hemorrhage and the two blind men were focused on! If I feel in short supply of faith, Jesus is the source of it and He's the One I should be seeking in order to strengthen it. And as I spend quality time with a merciful and compassionate God, He will give me the faith I need to keep praying in faith for the challenges I face.

© 2009 by Ken Peters

Blessed by Faith, not by Effort (part 2 in a series on faith)

(Not so much a series of teachings as much as a series of personal reflections on Bible passages that God has used to stir my heart regarding this important matter of faith amidst the challenges He has led me through. See part 1. Go to part 3.)

Whenever I find myself discouraged by the idea of not being good enough in the eyes of God, I know it means I'm not looking at my life through spiritual eyes. There was a time when God opened my spiritual eyes to see my need for a saviour and to see Jesus as that saviour. But too often I'm prone to going back to using my old earthly eyes as I strive to be good enough to please God.

Galatians 3:3 calls that foolish. "Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" Paul then goes on to refer to being people of faith or to living by faith 13 times in the next 23 verses. He also mentions eight times in about as many verses that the great promises God made to Abraham had nothing to do with anything Abraham did to earn them. The message? That the way to please God is not by striving to be good enough, but by believing His Word and by receiving all He has promised us!

Okay, but I find myself thinking that I know all this. It sounds familiar. And yet I still sometimes find myself battling thoughts that I'm not good enough for God, and that I have to measure up to be entitled to His promises. And I can still let myself get discouraged when I make a mistake of even the smallest variety!

Well, according to Paul in Galatians 3, my battle cry in such times should be: Have faith! Faith in God's mercy, faith in what Jesus did on the cross, faith in God's fatherhood, faith in God's promises! And I need to persistently remind myself that the promise of my inheritance in Christ is not based on how well I perform (3:18), but on God's goodness, and received by faith in God (3:22). I ought to shout that out the next time I'm distracted by my own humanity! And as I do, I will be blessed simply because God blesses those who believe.


© 2009 by Ken Peters