Teaching

I did my first teaching this Saturday. It went very well. I also ran worship solo...it was difficult, but not impossible because the Lord was with me. There was one part when I was reading Phillipians when the microphone started making obnoxious static noises, so I ripped the plug out of the mike and went un-amplified for the rest of the teaching. It was a small crowd, so it wasn't a big deal to speak on my own vocal power. The Lord really blessed me with an ability to speak publicly that was not there before. Praise God!

Here is something of a transcript of what I said, though it is polished a little more than what I actually spoke.

"In The Valley of the Shadow of Death"

Or

"When Bad Things Happen After We Step Out of The Boat"

Psalm 23 is a very familiar psalm, and one which this teaching takes its title from. Last week, Josh addressed our need to listen for the Lord's call, and step out of the boat in faith. This week, I will teach about what happens when either we step out of the boat and things start going bad, or when we stay on the boat and we are thrown for a loop with hard times.

*Begin by reading Psalm 23*

This Psalm is a comforting one. It is easy, perhaps, to look at it and see that it is good and true. Yet, there are also times in our life when the claims of David in this Psalm, the promises of shelter, of sustenance, of love, seem like a bitter lie.

Let's say you have just come back from a time of spiritual clarity where God has revealed things to you, about his love for you, or about his plans for you. You have been blessed by a time where the Lord felt close to you, and your purpose became clear as an autumn sky. Then, as you begin to descend from this pinnacle to go to that other high place of blessing you have been called to, things fall apart in short order, and your life descends into a morass of mistakes, and overwhelming difficulties. It seems as though you are wandering through a wooded valley, with the sun setting so that it barely shines through at all, and there is a thick fog blocking everything from sight, making you lost, disoriented, and feeling alone. Not only do you feel separated from God; but your life is beset by all kinds of calamities.

It is easy to believe in God when you are close to Him, and when everything in your life is beautiful. In times of difficulty, it is not so easy, and our faith is challenged. There are three ways in which we are challenged that I will cover. The first test of our faith in these times is KNOWING THE LORD IS WITH YOU. The second is SEEING WHERE HE WANTS US TO GO. The third way is TRUSTING CHRIST AS A GUIDE. All of these tests have their unique difficulties, and our scripture has many examples of this.

KNOWING THE LORD IS WITH YOU

Needless to say, when you have a God who claims to protect you as Christ did, there is a challenge to our faith in that when it appears that we have been abandoned and are no longer cared for. What shepherd can call himself good while his sheep are surrounded by wolves? Yet, there are some things that we must remember, as Christ's sheep, that are very important. The first is that as Christians, the things of this world, our grades, our cars, our clothes, our food, even how many friends we have or who they are is not of any importance compared to our relationship with God and our relationship with others. What is ailing you? What do you value? In Phillipians, Paul says *read Phillipians 3:4-11* If what is causing you distress is the loss of things which don't matter, then reconsider what is valuable to you and you may not be in as much trouble as you thought.

In the Scripture, there are many instances of people having terrible times in their life. In fact, there is likely not a single man or woman who God used that did not wrestle with the difficulties of living in this world. David struggled with it; Elijah struggled with it; Paul struggled with it; and even Christ struggled with it, because he came to this Earth as one of us to suffer with us. David cried out to the Lord countless times in the Psalms; Paul said in 2 Corinthians "To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times, I pleaded with the Lord to take it from me. But he said to me 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in your weakness."

All of these people who had difficulty did not run from the Lord in hardships, as the temptation is to do (why run towards the one who abandoned you, right?), but ran to him instead. They received the blessing when they came to the Lord in prayer. Prayer is key; it is our proof that we love God. If you love someone, would not talk to them? If you are having a hard time in your life, would you tell someone else about your difficulties? Then how much more should we tell God of our problems, the one who we must love above everyone and everything, and who loved us above everything as well!

A psalm of Asaph, Psalm 77, is fitting for this challenge, and an example of a right response. *read Psalm 77*. We must not forget the things that God has done for us in the past, and the examples of his might. In this Psalm, Asaph refers to the pillar of fire leading Israel through the wilderness and the Red Sea.

SEEING WHERE HE WANTS US TO GO

If there is one thing I know about these trough periods, it's that I want to get the heck out of Dodge. They are the LAST place I want to be and, I think that it is pretty safe to assume that most people do not like their lives to be difficult in a negative way, or stressful. We want peace and completeness in our lives. As David put it, "Of that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest- I would hurry to my place and shelter, far from the tempest and storm." Sometimes, God does not pluck me out of my situation as soon as my patience runs out, so out of my impatience for this situation to end, I try to get out of this murky forest by myself. I try to find the best way I can to get out, or try to find my own way towards the goal which the Lord told me to strive for in my moment of clarity prior to this trough period.

An example of my own desire to find my own way was when I was working in a worship team (not SNA), simply as a roadie who moves heavy things around. I had been waiting for some time to play with the team, but through a prior struggle of faith I had learned to be patient and wait for the opportunity to play with these people. One day, I was offered one of those green egg shaker things. I kind of looked at it, in a blank sort of way after the worship leader had given it to me. You see, the Lord had shown me earlier that he would use me for the worship team, that I would serve with them. Since I had been building up my skill with my instrument, the guitar, I naturally assumed that when the opportunity to play would arise, it would be a request to play my guitar. So I, in my false humility, turned down the opportunity to shake a rhythm egg in front of people and went off to piously read my Bible. A few minutes later, I had realized that I had been given an opportunity in an unexpected form, and that I should take it. So I spent my night playing bongos instead of playing guitar, and it was blessed to be a part of it and humble myself.

My error was that I kept my eyes open. Since I could not see into the future and tell exactly how I was to be used, I made my best guess and was looking for it to appear. Surely I would be used in the way in which I was trained. But the Lord often has a surprise planned for us. In my case, it came in the form of a green egg.

As another example, let's say that the lights are out in this room, and I have to leave it, but all I can see is the light from the open door over there. The most direct way is for me to walk straight for the door; the problem is that there are all these pews in the way, and I'm not going to get anything except a sore shin for my trouble. But if someone who knows the church inside and out were to take my hand, that person would be able to guide me outside, by first walking down the aisle (which is away from the door) and then towards it. We are like that. We cannot see the obstacles on the most direct way because we cannot see into the future and do no know what it holds. In the same way, God knows everything, and is capable of bringing you to where you need to be. He can see what you can't, and knows the best way for you to take based on who you are as a person.

The idea of allowing our Lord Christ to guide us has never been so succinctly summarized as it is in the Proverbs, which say "In his heart, a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps," and "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death."

TRUSTING CHRIST AS A GUIDE

So now God, after we have closed our eyes to the world and opened our heart up to him, has shown us the way in which he wants us to go. And in some cases, it seems ridiculous, in the wrong direction. But we must trust Christ as our guide.

Please turn with me to the Gospel of John, chapter 10, verses 1-18. In this chapter, Jesus is again reaching out to the Jewish people and speaking in parables to them.

Jesus here gives us a promise: That when he has taken us into his flock, he will not let us fall away. And he has promised that we will be saved from destruction through him. Having faith in this requires us to believe several things; that God knows what is best for us, and that God is powerful enough to accomplish it in our lives. Part of the purpose of the Word of God is to explain to us who God is, and what God is like. There are many accounts of his power here, so that we might be convinced he is trustworthy.

In the story of Joshua and the fall of Jericho, the Lord told Joshua to have his people march around Jericho, one of the mightiest strongholds in the land, and lay siege to it with music and shouting. I don't know about you guys, but if I was a military commander, I wouldn't plan a siege by ordering up a brass marching band and a parade float with a screaming metal band on it unless maybe I was laying siege to a nursing home. Yet, as wacky as the plan was, the walls were destroyed and the Jewish people were given the victory. Later, when Gideon was leading an uprising against the evil people who had taken over Israel, the Lord had him pare down his forces from 32,000 men to 300 men, less than 1% of their original number against an army which could not be counted. With every one of the 300 men blowing a trumpet, the armies of Midian turned on each other and the people were again delivered. These are both great stories of triumph throughout obeying commandments from God which seem to make no sense, yet still fulfill the promise of delivering the oppressed people.

And here is another: In order to save mankind, God came to the Earth in the flesh of a human, born into poverty, of a race which was under the control of a militant regime and had no power left, and was killed by the people of his own race. I have to tell you, if I have a mind to save someone, getting myself killed is usually not going to be beneficial for that plan or in any part of it. And yet, as strange as the method was, it worked. Christ was victorious over death, and through our faith in him, we are saved from ourselves. When we realize who God is and how powerful he is, it is then that we will humble ourselves and consent him to be our guide.

CONCLUSION

I would like to conclude this teaching by saying that if you have felt like your life has seen only times of difficulty, and you don't even know what it is like to have guidance and supreme love in these times, pray in your heart and ask Christ to enter into you and be the guide of your life. In his hands, we are secure beyond all measure. He is the good shepherd, and he will NEVER lose you. If you have run from him before, he will give you grace and receive you again, for his grace is without bounds.