A Different Set of EyesSample

DAY THREE: Hurt Not Harm

“The LORD will keep you from all harm- He will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.”  Psalms 121:7-8  (NIV) 

If we are trying to get a new set of eyes, which is the perspective that God wants us to have, we will have to contend with some things we read and that are promised by God but don’t seem to be true in a particular instance.  The scripture above is an example.  I must say that I believe the promise that God gives in this scripture, but there have been times that I doubted it.  My sense of self-survival and self-protection told me that I was extremely vulnerable, and my eyes were on what I must do rather than trusting what God would do.  In other words, I trusted myself more than God, and of course I always let me down.  Eventually I would have to practice what I believe, which is something I have found is a constant tension that the Holy Spirit permits. For it is in a challenging time of threats that I cannot control, that God moves me from theoretical faith to experiential faith.  Remember that experience trumps theory all day long, and it is the mission of the Spirit who transforms our life to get us beyond a mere theory of Him.

Like many of you, I have to battle with keeping things simple versus making them way too complex.  It is part of my creative nature, as well my fallen nature, to be this way.  But I’m not alone with this problem, for it is also part of mankind’s built in system for processing things.  It has gotten even worse, for in the world we live in, rarely can we trust the promises and guarantees we hear without looking at the small print of disclaimers that would warn us that things are not as trustworthy as we would hope.  This has made people wary and distrusting as a rule, as evidenced by the dissatisfaction most of us feel towards political candidates, not to mention the bias we see in our “free press” that is driving its own agenda.  This distrusting condition has also made its way into many Christians in this country.  We are far away from a child-like faith that Jesus speaks of that depends on God, just like a child would his or her parent.  Instead, we have embraced an intellectual faith that requires proof and guarantees before we will trust it. Why do we do this?  It is because this is what the world has taught us.  What is the answer?  We have to get a new set of eyes to see things as Jesus would want us to do.

Jesus Christ spoke of a faith that is like that of a child being a mature faith.  In Mark 10:15 we read, “whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it at all.”   But what is this kind of faith?  So that we do not go off in a wrong direction, I think we need to understand that Jesus is speaking of a childlike faith, not a childish faith.  In other words, we are not naïve or ignorant of the threats.  We have these alarms going off like crazy telling us that there is danger.  To not recognize these things in this day and time would be “childish.”  A childlike faith is to be understood as simple, not complicated, for it trusts without reservation, and it takes a promise from the Promise Maker at face value.

As we move forward in this childlike faith, the challenge to grow up in this faith will be faced with the question that God asks of us, “Do you believe the promises in My scriptures to be My promises to you?”  We will have to answer that question before we can move on in our growth in faith.  There was a time that I did ask that question of myself to find out what I really believed.  It was then that I had to be completely honest with God by answering Him as truthfully as I knew how.  This was our conversation:

“Lord, I want to believe these promises, and to claim them as coming from You to me.  But, I have so many experiences in life that challenge me in taking all of them at face value,” I confessed.

He answered, “What is it in My promises to you that causes you to doubt?  Do you believe I am watching over you even now?  Do you believe I will watch over you wherever you are both now and in the future?” 

“Yes Lord.  I truly believe you are watching over me now and into the future.  These promises I do believe, and trust.  But, what I am confused about is Your promise to keep me from all harm.  I’m old enough to look back and see a lot of harm in my life, with injuries that kept me from a professional athletic career, loss of loved ones, being cheated and betrayed by someone I trusted, being fired from my job because of the evil intentions of some people, and the challenging health issues of the last 19 years.  I have trusted You, and I know You have watched over me.  But, was I really kept from harm?”

There was silence for a while.  It was in this silence I thought back to the times and events that I mentioned as examples.  I relived the before, during and after time of the examples, as I saw these difficult periods were to facilitate a change in my life direction. Then I heard the Lord say to my heart:

“You were hurt during these times.  That is obvious.  But were you harmed?”

“What is the difference?” I asked.

“Therein lies your problem as to why you are having a difficult time having a childlike faith in receiving this as a promise to you.  Have you not come to see how these hurts did not harm you, but actually became a blessing to you?  Have you not come to understand that My other promise to you that in all things I would be working for good in your life, also applies to your hurts and disappointments?  My child, look back over your life and see how I’ve used those hurts to redirect your life, and to cause you to become the man you are today.  Were you not ultimately blessed?  Were you not broken, but also were you not reformed by Me into a better man?  Were you not ultimately given the desires of your heart, as I broke a heart of stone and gave you one after My own heart?”

My sobering dialogue with the Lord helped me understand, as well it should for you, that there is a difference in being hurt and being harmed.  God promises that we will not be harmed, although we may experience the pain of hurt in the discipleship process He takes us through.  Remember this promise:

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”  “Romans 8:28 NLT)