Under His Wings

Last week my phone rang. I seemed to have been asked a question out of the blue. “Why does man need God?” As I stuttered and stammered for my response all I could think of at the time was the pat confessional answer, “God created us for Himself and our hearts are restless until they rest in Him.” I told my caller (who is a dear friend, by the way) that we continually search in all the wrong places until we find that fulfillment that was meant to be found only in Him. My friend and I also talked briefly about man’s sin nature. Some of the basic ideas of Christianity.

However, in the back of my mind I was thinking, “Maybe we are asking the wrong question here. Maybe the question we should be asking is ‘Why does God need man?’ ” I think our focus is continually on our fulfillment and our needs and we need to be looking from a different perspective. We are not the center of the universe. God is a reality no matter how we try to rationalize Him away. He is Creator, Redeemer and King. He WILL come to judge the righteous and the unrighteous. He created us for His Name’s Sake. He redeemed us for His Name’s Sake. He judges in righteousness and truth. His desire has always been to dwell with His people. He is constantly pursuing us until we return to Him.

Why does God need man? God isn’t praise hungry. He is not some arrogant tyrant up in the sky cracking His whip until we worship Him. Does God need anything? That is a question that we don’t even need to try to answer. The point is God chose to have a relationship with man. He chose. He chose to humble Himself to be with the likes of us.
Amazing.

I hadn’t been to a homeschool convention in years so when two of my friends were able to let me attend this year for free I was glad to get away for an overnight. My daughter was able to attend with us also. I especially wanted to go this year because Reb and Beverly Bradley were speaking and their topics were of interest to me.

I didn’t know much about the Bradleys, but someone had recommended their website to me. I had gleaned a lot just from the articles and outlines so I was interested in what they actually had to say. Little did I know how much I would reap from this conference.

A significant part of the conference touched on the crisis in homeschooling. Why do so many homeschoolers grow up and then seem to drift from the values that their parents held? Homeschool parents really have a lot on the line. We have taken a radical step. But, we need to remember that we have done this in obedience to the Lord.

I read a wonderful quote yesterday. “If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.” We need to remember this as homeschoolers. God has brought us to this endeavor and He will bring us through it. We are not on our own to make it happen and our children are not our little projects. We as parents stive for outward conformity, raising little trophies for our praise instead of loving our children as people who are loved by God who made them for a purpose. He is the Author and Finisher of their faith and He will lead us into the way that is best for us and for our children.

Proverbs 14:2″There is a way which seems right to a mom (man), But its end is the way of death.” This is an amazing statement. It goes right along with Deut. 30:20 where God tells us to choose life “by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days,” Beverly talked about the wisdom of this world–that it is called “the wisdom of the world”—it’s seems wise, but it is foolishness to God and James says it is demonic. We need to continually look to God and do things His way to bring Life to our families and our children. We don’t need their outward conformity, we need their hearts.

There are so many things that distract us from doing things God’s way. Academics can be a distraction. Running to and fro from so many outside commitments that seem to be good, learning experiences for our children, can be a distraction. Even the religious system of this world, if it is man’s decisions and man’s wisdom, can be a distraction.

Ask yourself this question. What will bring Life to my family? To force my daughter to continue to take violin lessons even though she was very good and very advanced was no longer bringing Life to her. I needed to let go of my dream for her. She is discovering her talents in teaching piano and violin and in photography. She is full of Life and says that giving up the violin was the best thing that she ever did.

I was so excited at the conference when I found a tech ed curriculum for my son on overhauling small gasoline engines. He is highly motivated by this and has been enthusiastically studying and acing the tests. This is bringing Life to my son who had no motivation to read or study.

My children will not conform to everyone else’s expectations….that is okay. Who decides what is right and what is wise? May our children be raised as trophies of His grace and not of our good homeschooling abilities.

For His Name’s Sake.

I have had many fears in my life that the Lord has graciously delivered me from. Hallelujah! My deepest fears involved my children. They were fears of either them dying or of my dying and leaving them. The Lord makes us who we are and uses everything in our lives toward His purpose. Being abandoned by my father as a young child has given me a compassion for those who have lost their fathers. Those are the kinds of movies that I cry at most often, the ones where the parents and children are ripped apart.

That’s why this story from the Persecution Blog struck me so much. A Christian mother in Eritrea named, Ghenet Gebremariam, was put into prison for being involved in a church which was banned by the government. Ghenet had a six-month-old son, Hazaiel Daniel, who was ill at the time.

When my son, Joshua, was six months old he had had ear infections since he was three weeks old. He had tubes put in his ears at 6 months old. I had the luxury of seeking help for him. I was not forced to abandon him because of my faith in Christ.

Two days after Ghenet was imprisoned her son, Hazaiel died.

Recently, I heard a woman whose son was stillborn speak on suffering. She spoke of the nailscarred hand stretched out in invitation to walk with her through her suffering. There is a fellowship that only those who have suffered with Him can know and today Ghenet knows that suffering.

Ghenet, I wish I could see you today and give you a hug. One day you shall see your son again. Because Jesus has been raised from the dead He is the first fruits of more to come. Press on my dear sister. You are an inspiration to me.

“but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.” 1 Peter 4:13

For His Name’s Sake

There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven–
A time to give birth and a time to die;
A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.
A time to kill and a time to heal;
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
A time to weep and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn and a time to dance.
A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing.
A time to search and a time to give up as lost;
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear apart and a time to sew together;
A time to be silent and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate;
A time for war and a time for peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

There are many times when things happen that I don’t understand. Sometimes they are profound, life altering things. Profound things happen like the death of a friend’s child or injustice in the world. Sometimes they are simple, stupid things like my not being able to write for days and weeks on end or my not being able to read this or that book for seemingly no reason.

Ecclesiatstes 3 is going through my thinking this morning. Mostly because in the last few weeks we have had our time of rejoicing with my daughter graduating. But, as I read this morning there is something else I notice about this passage.

“The LORD spoke again to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘The LORD’S appointed times which you shall proclaim as holy convocations–My appointed times are these: ‘ ” Leviticus 23:1-2

Leviticus is talking about the Biblical holidays, the appointed times of the LORD. These are the times that the LORD has set apart in the year as a remembrance of who He is and of what He has done.

Ecclesiatstes is telling me that the LORD has appointed the times of everything in my life, the times of mourning and dancing, the times of sickness and health, the times of silence and speaking. I need not be discouraged when I can’t muster up the strength in myself to do a thing, even if I think it is a small thing like read a certain book or write a stupid blog post. I think the LORD has protected me from many things I shouldn’t have read by my not being able to read certain books that others may have wanted me to read. I need to learn to trust Him for the simple and the complex. I need to listen for His voice.

For His Name’s Sake

I attended the annual senior night at our church youth group last week. Each senior was put in the “hot seat” and a leader spoke about that person. Since Hannah has been working with the jr. high girls for the duration of her high school career her choir teacher from the local high school, who is also a youth leader, shared his thoughts about Hannah instead of one of the female youth leaders. Hannah said afterward that it was the first time she had ever heard him speechless. He talked about her heart for people and her work ethic. He said that even though she was homeschooled she had many friends in the choirs she attended and that because she befriended these non-Christian kids she would lead them to the Lord.

Later on each senior had a chance to share some bit of wisdom with the youth group. Hannah had the only advice relating even remotely to God and her words came from my previous post, “It’s not important to be popular. It’s important to be holy, even if it means that you will suffer for it.”

When we arrived home my daughter related how earlier in the week a close friend of ours had shared the article which I have posted previously. This friend told her how other homeschooling mothers had seen Hannah with her homosexual friends and as asked our friend if Hannah was also rebelling against her parents.(The context in which these friends saw Hannah was in a neutral context, a carnival we were putting on to raise money for a pregnancy center. The young people were doing no other rebellious actions) Then Hannah went on to tell us about the conversation she had had about the Diety of Christ with her Jehovah’s Witness friend the night of their concert this week.

At the end of sr. night the youth pastor shared these verses with the seniors: “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” Eph. 5:15-17

Biblically, to walk in wisdom is to walk in the ways of the Lord, obeying His commands.
The Lord has said that we can look at the Torah through the lens of, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” (Deut. 6:5) and “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18) May we make these our highest goal.

For His Name’s Sake