Answer me

Magic 8 Ball

Posted on by Betsy

False.

No.

True.

Yes.

These were the last four words of a New York Times game I play called Connections. The game starts with 16 words, and the challenge is to find four sets of four words that are connected somehow. I usually get the first two sets pretty easily but often struggle with the third. Obviously if you solve the third set, the last set is revealed. So imagine my joy when not only did I get down to the last set, but I actually knew what the connection was!! Look again at the list. Obviously the connection is “Magic 8 Ball answers.” Right?

Nope. These are binary question options. Binary question are closed-ended questions that restrict the possible answers to two distinct, often opposing choices. I obviously spent too much time in my childhood playing Magic 8 Ball.

Do we ever use God like a Magic 8 Ball, shaking him up and turning him over to see what the answer is? Have you ever prayed about something and then flipped your Bible open and demanded the answer be on the page where it falls? Are you guilty of turning God back over again in hopes of getting a new/better/different/more acceptable answer to your problem? I think a lot of us are guilty of this. When a decision or issue confronts us, we turn to me-directed rather than God-directed solutions. I recently had to have a minor surgery that I was not looking forward to. I was sure I didn’t have the time for a two-week recovery. In the meantime, a church member has been actively dying for months now. I reasoned that if I ended up having to do the funeral on or near surgery day, that was God’s way of telling me not to have the surgery. Can you believe such nonsense? By the way, I had the surgery, and the church member is still chugging along. Foolish me! But how easy it is to slip into these kind of negotiations with ourselves.

God desires to have a deep relationship with him where we don’t have to guess about his purpose for our lives. He provides us with the Scriptures for transformation, not random information. He overrides our desire to know outcomes with an invitation to simply trust that he knows the outcome and will be with us

Proverbs 3 (New International Version)

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight.

Are you desperately trying to figure something out? Are you negotiating or testing God to skew the answer to your liking? You can trust him to show you the way. When we read Scripture and pray with submissive hearts, God is revealed. Try it and see.

Free Bird by Kathy Schumacher

Safety Nets

Posted on by Betsy

“Mommy, look!” “Daddy, watch me!” “Nana, why does your elbow look like that?” “Papa, play Hungry Hippos with me!” Children need and demand constant attention and interaction from the adults in their presence. As much as we love it, all of the energy that they require can take a toll. A young mother recently posted that she had an amazing day at the beach. Her husband and her two older children sufficiently entertained themselves and the two little ones to the extent that she ACTUALLY READ A FULL CHAPTER in her book! It was like a Christmas miracle! Raise your hand if you’ve been there.

When I read the first line of Psalm 4, it occurred to me that we pretty much sound just like that to God. Read the first verse:

Psalm 4 (New Revised Standard Version)

1 Answer me when I call, O God of my right!

This made me laugh out loud. ANSWER ME WHEN I CALL!! Our children demand that of us when they are younger and then there is a reversal. As they age and become more independent, we make that demand of them. When your teenager leaves the house for the evening with car keys in her hand, this is what you say to her. Answer your cell when I call! I want to keep track of you. I want to know you’re safe. I need reassurance.

Our demand that God answer us when we call comes from a place of faith, not fear. When we make this request, we are counting on God to help us as he did in the past. David expresses both his need for God to hear him and his frustration with his people’s inability to remain steadfast in their walk. Wicked men have slandered David, and he is weary of waiting for retribution.

You gave me room when I was in distress.
    Be gracious to me, and hear my prayer.

2 How long, you people, shall my honor suffer shame?
    How long will you love vain words, and seek after lies?

But the word of assurance comes…God hears the faithful.

3 But know that the Lord has set apart the faithful for himself;
    the Lord hears when I call to him.

4 When you are disturbed, do not sin;
    ponder it on your beds, and be silent.
5 Offer right sacrifices,
    and put your trust in the Lord.

So David encourages us to trust that God will come with the answer. We only need to wait in silence for our deliverance.

6 There are many who say, “O that we might see some good!
    Let the light of your face shine on us, O Lord!”
7 You have put gladness in my heart
    more than when their grain and wine abound.

Just as we crave knowing that our children are safe from harm, God needs to provide that safety for us. He is our loving parent who waits up by the phone until we are safely home. Only in him can we sleep in peace, for it is only in him that we can be truly safe.

8 I will both lie down and sleep in peace;
    for you alone, O Lord, make me lie down in safety.

Are there places in your life where you feel unsafe? Are there relationships, situations, activities, or behaviors that you, or people around you, engage in that make you feel in danger? It is not God’s will for you to live that way. If this is your situation, get help. There is some person or agency that is capable of being a safety net for you.

David promises us that God makes us lie down and sleep in peace. If you don’t experience this, please talk to someone.

God Hears by Michelle Robertson