"Inside, Out"

Passage: 1 John 3:20  “God is greater than our hearts and knows all things.”

This past year a Pixar movie came out called “Inside, Out”.  The movie was delightful, entertaining, and truthful.  The premise of the movie is how the mind, actually more the emotions of a young girl developed through her circumstances and environment. 

We recently watched the movie as a part of our Thanksgiving family movie night.  While I had seen the movie two times already, I enjoyed watching the emotions and actions of the kids.  We especially liked the end of the movie (no spoiler alert) because it gave us a picture of how others have trains of thought and emotion and what you see may not be what is going on inside.

No one knows us better than God.  We can pretend and fake our way with others but He sees right at our heart.  While that may be unsettling for some, for me it is extremely comforting. 

There are times I don’t know what I am thinking.  Some things or emotions surface as my memory bank pulls up a similar situation.  Sometimes I feel like Paul when he said in Romans 7:19 the good I want to do, I don’t do and the bad I don’t want to do, I do.   It’s times like that when I am comforted to know God is greater than my heart and He knows everything.

Christmas has become a time that emotions run high and low.  We don’t always act the ways we want or better said others don’t act the way we want them to act.  Things can get out of our control and worlds start to crumble.  One thing can happen leading us to a thought that goes from zero to sixty and we have out-of-control anger before we ever utter a word. 

God gave us emotions and He knows we have feelings that change based on who we are and what we have experienced.  He also knows that we are not without help or boundaries in controlling our emotions and knowing that He knows everything even our deepest thoughts means He knows us inside out. 

Lord, thank you that you are greater than our hearts.  You know what causes us hurt and anger, joy and happiness.   You know us better than we know ourselves.  May we find comfort in this truth.

The Waiting Game

This is the first story in the Christmas devotional book I did for our family and church:

Passage:  Psalm 130:5  “I wait for the LORD; I wait, and put my hope in His word.”

“There are ten in your party.  Are you OK with an hour wait?”   Of course we weren’t OK - waiting an hour on anything with four kids is not OK but we did it anyway.  We whipped out every cell phone and device we could find to pass out and just hope that everyone had a battery charge long enough to make it through dinner.

It’s not just kids who have trouble waiting.  If there is one thing many of us have in common, it’s a hatred to wait for someone or something.  Kids hate waiting for dinner but also their birthdays to come or to open Christmas presents.  Parents can’t wait for Christmas vacation to be over.  The people in the congregation can’t wait for the preacher to stop talking.  Of course we all hate waiting in the checkout line.  We are always on the lookout for the shortest line or the fastest checker – or maybe that’s just me.

Many years ago God’s people were waiting.  In fact as we celebrate Christmas it is important to realize God had pretty much been silent for 400 years.  Since I can hardly wait fifteen minutes without pulling out my cellphone and having something to do while I wait I can’t imagine waiting 400 years to hear something from God.  The Messiah had been foretold - a Child would be born who would be Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, and Prince of Peace. (Is. 9:6)  Where was He?

Aren’t we the same way?  We pray and wait. Of course we expect answers pretty quick or again maybe that’s just me.  A little wait might be doable but to wait weeks, months, years and still no answer is hard.  It’s more than hard: it’s a faith exercise and I haven’t found any exercise that’s not hard or fun. I have agonized over prayers waiting for an answer.  (By the way, being a pastor’s wife doesn’t get your prayers answered any faster.)  I have learned to wait upon the LORD or better said learning to wait on the LORD.  I want to be like the psalmist in the above passage stating affirmatively “I will wait for the LORD”.  Just as His timing was perfect for Jesus to be born, His timing for my life and your life is perfect as well.  I remind myself often that God is not a genie in a bottle who is to grant my every wish and command.

While we are not OK with waiting, we are encouraged by His Word to wait. (Ps, 27:14)   It’s easy for us to see on this side of the Christmas story how the wait was worth it. 

God may ask you to do something while you wait to exercise your faith muscles or He may be teaching you to be still.  Either way, it’s hard – just remember to keep your batteries charged!

What are you waiting on this Christmas?