Did God Send Me Into This?!

February 26, 2013 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

Have you ever experienced this? You are certain that God has spoken to you. You’ve launched out in obedience, things are sailing along smoothly, and then <wham!> a storm threatens to swamp you. And you begin to second-guess what you thought God said to you. You begin to wonder if perhaps you misunderstood the directions God spoke: “Did God send me into this?!”

Ever been there?

The disciples of Jesus must have felt that way. Jesus says, “Let’s get into the boat and head over to the other side of the lake.” The disciples obeyed Jesus only to have a huge storm come crashing down on them, to the point that their boat was about to be swamped (see Luke 8:22-25).

What were they thinking then? What would you have been thinking? Perhaps you might have thought, “Did I miss something God said?”

I love this thought from Oswald Chambers—

You say, “If I had not obeyed Jesus I should not have got into this complication.” Exactly. The problems in our walk with God are to be accounted for along this line, and the temptation is to say, “God could have never told me to go there, if He had done so this would not have happened.” We discover then whether we are going to trust God’s integrity or listen to our own expressed skepticism. 

God knows what He’s doing. He knows what He needs to accomplish.

Too many times I get focused on the destination, while God is focusing on the process. I often will learn more about my faith, and about the power and faithfulness and love of my God, during these storms than I will in an incident-free journey.

If you are on a journey on which God sent you and your boat’s rocking, don’t second-guess what God said. Keep your eyes on Jesus, and watch to see what He’s developing in you during your stormy trip.

You may also like to check out:

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Weighing The Positives And Negatives*

February 5, 2013 — Craig T. Owens

WeighingDon’t you get annoyed when an overly-religious person spouts off some pie-in-the-sky, feel-goodism that sounds religious, but doesn’t seem to have any grounding in the real world?

Like when a church leader says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” when you are in the midst of a painful situation? This is one of those statements that’s great for church, but not so great for the battlefield of life, right?

Actually that statement was made by the apostle Peter (see 1 Peter 1:3).

He didn’t shout it in a church service, but in a letter to Christians who were on the run from their persecutors. Many of them had lost their homes and businesses, had to leave their hometowns, were separated from their families, and were having their very lives threatened. Peter didn’t just shout this praise, he explained its origin, too.

Over the next few verses he asks us to consider what a relationship with Jesus Christ would bring us, and then to put the positives and negatives on a scale—

The Positives

  • God’s mercy
  • New life
  • Living hope
  • Resurrection from the dead
  • Secure inheritance
  • An eternity with God in Heaven
  • God’s power shielding us

The Negatives*

  • Grief
  • Trials

*

So whether we look at the eternal positives or the temporary “negatives” there is cause for rejoicing. When a Christian is in a difficult situation, he must remember this:

  1. This situation is only temporary
  2. This situation will ultimately bring glory to God

Weigh the positives and negatives and you will see that what you are going through now cannot even begin to compare to the glory of God that is coming! The apostle Paul echoed Peter’s words when he wrote, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).

So keep your eyes on Jesus, and keep shouting your praise to Him.

Holy Spirit, please help me to look away from the temporary and keep my eyes on my eternal God and Savior.

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Hard Times

July 13, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Have you ever asked yourself, “Why do I have to go through these difficulties?” Or maybe: “What is being accomplished through this pain and heartache?” I know I’ve asked these questions of myself—and of God—numerous times. I have come to three conclusions why Christians must go through hard times:

  1. So that I know that I can trust God to help me pass this test.
  2. So that God will be glorified in helping me pass this test.
  3. So that others will know that God can help them pass their test.

These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when [not “if”] your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. (1 Peter 1:7)

Others will see this and be encouraged to trust God too! Look what Thomas Paine wrote in The Crisis:

“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.”

So to help in your hard times, may this prayer from Charles Spurgeon encourage you:

The graces of the Christian character must not resemble the rainbow in its transitory beauty, but, on the contrary, must be established, settled, abiding.
 
May your character not be a writing upon the sand, but an inscription upon the rock!
 
May your faith be no baseless fabric of a vision.
 
But may it be built of material able to endure that awful fire which shall consume the wood, hay, and stubble of the hypocrite.
 
May you be rooted and grounded in love.
 
May your convictions be deep, your love real, your desires earnest.
 
May your whole life be so settled and established, that all the blasts of Hell, and all the storms of earth shall never be able to remove you.

UPDATE: I shared a series of messages on this topic called Where’s God? You can check them out by clicking here.

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Thursdays With Oswald—Trials

March 31, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.

Trials

Christianity is drawing on the overflowing favor of God in the second of trial.

From Facing Reality

So you see, the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials. (2 Peter 2:9)

Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life. (James 1:12)

In the moment of your trial, God is right there in the thick of it with you. He will bring you through. Draw on God’s overflowing favor and hang in there!

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Eat A Cookie

March 15, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

If you are going through a difficult place in your life … or if you are trying to process an event that doesn’t make much sense … or if there is a painful memory that makes you wonder, “Where was God in that?” … check out this short video clip:

Now, go eat a cookie and know that God IS working out something good.

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Can You Have Too Much Blessing?

January 7, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

I seldom turn on religious TV shows, because when I do I typically hear the same two messages: (1) God wants you to be rich; (2) God wants you to be healthy. I believe God is good all the time, but that doesn’t mean those who follow Him always get wealth and health.

Consider this:

After Rehoboam’s position as king was established and he had become strong, he and all of Israel with him abandoned the law of the Lord.

Notice: When Rehoboam was healthy and wealthy, he abandoned God. When things looked bleak—when the future for Rehoboam was very much in doubt—Rehoboam was “walking in the ways of David and Solomon” (2 Chronicles 11:17). When the Egyptians attacked, Rehoboam and his court officials “humbled themselves before God” (12:6).

Health and wealth derailed Rehoboam, but difficulties kept him close to God.

Maybe a better prayer than “Bless me” would be “Build Your character in me.” Or as it says in Proverbs:

Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown You and say “Who is the Lord?” Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.

The prayer that Jesus taught us to pray is perfect: Give us today our daily bread—no more, no less. That keeps me focused on my Heavenly Father.

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Mmmm, You Smell Good

April 16, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

Smell is one of the most potent of our five senses. It is strongly tied to memory and emotion. Maybe that’s why a “smelly phrase” appears so often in God’s requirements for the sacrifices the Israelites would offer Him:

An offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the Lord….

As a New Testament follower of Christ, instead of bulls or sheep or goats or birds, I have something more valuable to sacrifice to God: myself.

When I offer myself to God, it’s a powerful aroma that is pleasing to the Lord. Check this out:

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. (Romans 12:1)

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ…. (2 Corinthians 2:14-15)

Offer your entire self to God and you’ll smell really good to Him.

WARNING: In order for a sacrifice to release its full fragrance it has to go through the fire. It’s especially true in the tough times that you can release the best aroma of Christ. So don’t run away from the challenging times—stay in them and release your God-pleasing aroma.

You are the pleasing aroma, so go smell good today!

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Between A Rock And A Hard Place

March 31, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.

I read a verse in the Bible that I think may have been the origin of the cliché: “We are between a rock and a hard place.”

Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon. (Exodus 14:2)

Well, except the Israelites would have said, “Remember that time we were stuck between Migdol and the sea?”

The cliché implies that neither of my options are very pleasant. In fact, it really doesn’t matter whether I choose the rock or the hard place, there is going to be some pain involved in my choice. One way looks bad, and the other way looks just as bad.

Ever been there?

The rock and the hard place the Israelites found themselves between was the onrushing, ticked-off, fearsome Egyptian army and the un-crossable Red Sea. ″Let’s see, would I rather have death by the sword or death by drowning?″

Between a rock and a hard place for sure!

But it gets even worse when the Israelites stopped to think, “How did we end up here? Oh, yeah, God told us to encamp here!”

Sometimes I end up between a rock and a hard place—an angry army and an uncrossable ocean—because of my own stupid choices. I can accept that. But it’s a little harder to accept my predicament when I realize that God put me here.

Why would God do this to the Israelites? Why would He do it to me? Here’s what God said:

But I will gain glory for Myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD. (v. 4)

Is this a scary place to be? Yep! In fact, the Bible says the Israelites were terrified!

But here’s the really great news: When I realize that God has put me between a rock and a hard place, stay calm! Because He brought me here, He is going to do the heavy lifting.

The Lord Himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.

God shattered the rock by wiping out the onrushing Egyptian army.

God made the hard place smooth by parting the waters of the ocean.

God was glorified and all people knew He was God.

Are you in a tough spot? Are you between a rock and a hard place? Do you feel like God put you there? If so, it’s time to stay calm. He’s in control. If He put you there, let Him fight the battle for you. Let God be glorified in smashing your rock and making your hard place smooth.

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

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Should We Fire God? (book review)

March 30, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

Probably like me, the first thing that caught your eye was the title. Jim Pace didn’t entitle his book Should We Fire God? just to be provocative. It’s a legitimate question. In fact, it’s a question that so many have wrestled with for centuries: How can God allow bad things to happen?

It’s one thing when we in America are asking this question about the genocide in Darfur, or the earthquake in Haiti, or a famine in the Middle East. But what about when it hits so much closer to home?

Jim Price was pastoring at Virginia Tech University, when on April 16, 2007, a lone gunman opened fire on the campus killing over 30 people, including himself. Immediately Jim was forced face-to-face with this age-old question: How could this happen?

Some thought, “If God couldn’t keep us safe, perhaps He’s not up to the job. Should we fire God?”

Carefully, honestly, loving, Jim addresses this question. For him, this is not some theoretic exercise. It’s personal. The emotion comes through raw and real. After weighing all the evidence and considering all of the possibilities, Jim reaches the conclusion that…. Well, you’ll have to read Should We Fire God? for yourself and come up with your own conclusion.

If you’ve ever faced heartache, if you’ve ever wondered how God could allow something tragic to happen, if you’ve ever wrestled with the thought of firing God, you will find some great thinking material in this book.

I am a FaithWords book reviewer.

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Do I Know Too Much?

March 24, 2009 — Craig T. Owens

Thomas Huxley wrote, “I object to Christians: they know too much about God.”

When Job was going through his trials, his “friends” showed up with all kind of knowledge about God. They knew that God would never allow the innocent to go through difficulty. They knew Job had sinned somewhere along the way. They knew that God always answers a righteous man‘s prayers exactly as he had prayed it.

They knew too much about God.

They put God in their box, telling Him how to behave the way they knew He should.

They became their own god.

Job didn’t know all that God was doing, but he did know, “He does great things too marvelous to understand” (Job 9:10). The Apostle Paul echoed the same thought: “Oh, how great are God‘s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand His decisions and His ways!” (Romans 11:33).

As I go through my own trials, I‘m learning a little more about the depths of God‘s love for me everyday—“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love” (Romans 5:3-5).

How about you: Do you know too much about God? Or are you still open to learn more?

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