April 16--When You Need a Faith Boost, Read This

Sometimes my faith flags.  Sometimes it downright fails.  What do you do when you're in the ditch and need help?  Today's passages say:  Joshua 13-14, Luke 18:1-17, Psalm 86, Proverbs 13:7-8.  

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Eve reads her Bible journal aloud on this episode.

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Transcript

Joshua 13-14

Luke 18:1-17

Psalm 86, Prayer, Proverbs 13:7-8

SPEAKER_00 0:00

April 16 When you need a faith boost, read this. I won't be reading the scripture references. For those, please check the written post. I once gave up sugar for Lent, only to discover by the second day what a bad idea that was. Sugar is my shrine of choice, and giving it up for Lent sounded like a good idea that first day. The next day it sounded ridiculous. It's counterintuitive that when you're disgruntled with life, disappointed by your people, grumbly about your financial or fitness plan, that you'd stop and take a step back. But that's just what Lent is because denying oneself is the best way to turn up the lights and music of your life and then sit back and enjoy it from a brand new perspective. Lent ended just last week and some of us are singing a very loud and relieved hallelujah chorus. There's nothing that works up gratitude for me more than hitting empty. Whether it's a gas tank, bank account, or just a rumbly tummy, feeling a lack of the things I normally take for granted makes me way more thankful to have them. This morning I woke up rumbly with a different sort of empty. I dreaded the day and everything in front of me. I didn't have it in me to open my Bible, let alone write any words about what I read in it. I often start my day like this, maybe you've noticed. I had to face the truth that I don't have what it takes, and I'm not enough, despite what the slogans served up inside my dove dark chocolate say, Where do I go to dump this disappointment with myself? How do I fill up with joy instead? I had no idea. I languished, I lolled about. Limp and weepy, I got more coffee. And then it hit me. I need Jesus for this very reason, and glory be, I have him. He's the Savior I can never be. Deep cleansing breath. The truth is, I've never had what it takes. I've never been enough. God knows it, though sometimes like this morning, I wake up with dementia. On these mornings I think I've got to jump start myself on empty. What I eventually did was open my Bible and pray, because I needed God's help, and this is the only way I know how to find it. Would you believe that what I finally read spoke to this very thing? See for yourself. Today's passages say what to do when we need a faith boost. The Old Testament chapters are Joshua thirteen to fourteen. God wants us to have every bit of the inheritance he's promised us, all the faith, hope, and love, all the joy and peace, all the fruit of the Spirit, all the transforming we need to be who He intends. It's easy to get settled and to settle for less than everything God's got for us. Even when he says he'll do the hard part, even when he says all we've got to do is show up and trust him. Joshua was old by chapter thirteen, and maybe he'd gotten paunchy. God told him he's lived a good life, but there was still work to do. There are still pieces of land west of the Jordan River to be distributed to the tribes of Israel. It's Joshua's job to allot it, and God will do the work to drive out the inhabitants. God repeated the very same instructions here with the very same promise he'd been making for years upon years. The land is already yours, go in and claim it. I will fight for you. All of which makes me wonder, had Joshua stopped believing him? The land distribution that's already been done for the tribes east of the Jordan, Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh is repeated twice here, also twice repeated as a tidbit about the Levites who inherit no land because God is their inheritance. Maybe this information was mentioned again and again because these were the only inheritances that were actually settled by then. God reminded Joshua there was still more land to claim because more land meant more crops, more food, more wine, more oil, more of the everyday stuff that was important for living because God wanted them to have every last grape and fig he intended. It will be a fight to gear up and take the rest of what God's promised, but God's word to them hasn't changed on it. He confirmed it here, promising once again that he would do the work to drive out the natives before them. All they had to do was believe him and keep showing up to do it with him. Believe him, keep showing up. The next story comes along as a real life example of what this looks like. Moses gave the city of Hebron to Caleb because of his faithfulness as one of two spies who scouted out the promised land and believed what God said about it. The other spy was Joshua, but Caleb hadn't actually received this land yet, and forty five years later he came to ask Joshua for it. I can't help but contrast Caleb with Joshua. Caleb claimed he's still strong enough to take over Hebron while Joshua is described as old. Maybe it's because Caleb still believed what God said, that God would do the fighting for him, that he was still so energetic at age eighty five. In the next chapter, Caleb did take over Hebron with the help of others who fought with him. God kept his word, no matter how old his promise was, or how old the person was who trusted him. Caleb is a great example of someone with strong faith to believe God, but how do you believe when you don't believe like me this morning? Where do you go to get more faith? You go to the source of everything, God Himself. You go to His Word, you go to Him in prayer. You can't have life apart from His Spirit working in you, enabling you, and when you go to God, His Spirit moves inside you. The power to inherit all that God has for you isn't found in pulling up your bootstraps or igniting your own rockets. It's found in keeping in touch with God, trusting that he'll do what he promises to finish the good work he's begun in you. The work to make you and me like Jesus, which is a large part of what is meant by his promised land to us, is God's work to do. He does the fighting while our part is to believe that he will do it and to keep showing up, trusting that it's not all on us. What does it mean to keep showing up? To keep reading his word, talking to him, doing what he says. Walking with God isn't complicated. It's a steady, dedicated persistence to open up to him, to talk and listen, to trust him for one more day. And when you can't or don't do it, showing up means telling him you need help and then enjoying the relief he gives you, like falling exhausted into strong arms that hold you. Walking with God has never been about what you can do, it's about what you can't do. It's about trusting Him to do what needs doing in you so you're enabled by His Spirit to actually do what He asks of you. God's power in your weakness gives you what you need. When I'm reminded of my weakness as I have been today, I wonder if I'll ever have what it takes to trust and obey God on my own. And the answer is no, I won't. Growing in the Christian life isn't about getting stronger, it's about getting weaker, by which I mean it's about getting more and more clear about how much you need the Father who saves you and enables you and delights to connect with you. And this is good news because it's in your weakness that God's strength is displayed. Having trouble trusting, having trouble believing, having trouble obeying, this is good news because it means you found the truth that you can't save you, and so you throw yourself completely on the rock of ages who is more than enough. Depending on God's strength and your weakness is the faith boost you need. The New Testament passage is Luke eighteen one to seventeen. Four types of people are mentioned here the widow without power or connections, who by persisting gets what she asks for, the tax man, a sinner who begs for mercy, the self satisfied Pharisee who needs no mercy, and children who come to Jesus with only the desire to be with him, the persistence of the widow, the humility of the sinner, the simplicity of children. Jesus prizes these traits in three of those who come to him, persistence by one nobody in prayer to keep asking for what she needed, humility by another to ask forgiveness for the real ways he'd failed him, simplicity by kids and wanting Jesus more than the things he gives. The only person in these scenarios who's not prized is the Pharisee, the one who looks down on the sinner and brags about how he's got it all together. He doesn't need forgiveness, let alone Jesus, because he's good enough as is. This could be a quick and easy diagnostic tool if you're willing, which type represents you? Repenting for sin is the faith boost you need. From Psalm eighty six. When life turns upside down, David prays. He asks for help when he's in trouble because he's confident God will answer. God is well known for his goodness and forgiveness and is quote big hearted to all who ask for help, end quote. David says no one and nothing compares with God. He's the only one to turn to, the only place to go. He's helped David countless times, quote, snatched him from the brink of disaster, end quote. This time David needs help with thugs who are coming after him. It's the same story he keeps telling God. Pounce on the bad guys and save your beloved child. Talking to God, which is praying, isn't posturing before him, telling him what you know or being eloquent, profound, or braggy. This is how the Pharisee prayed in Luke's account. Praying is humbly asking for insight and, quote, an undivided heart, end quote. It's persistently giving God praise with all your heart, and it's asking for his help from the ditch when you're in it. Prayer recounts how God helped in the past, and prayer depends on him to come through in the present and in the future, the way David did, quote, gently and powerfully putting me back on my feet, end quote. God wants your flourishing, thriving, and living life to the fullest. When you ask for this too, you're joining your wanting with his. If you believe him, you'll ask for help. Praying like this is the faith boost you need. Prayer. God, thank you for opening my eyes today when I couldn't find my way. Thank you for reminding me that when I'm weak, I'm strong in you. Help me live like it's true. In Jesus' name. So be it. From Proverbs 13, 7 to 8. A flashy life is empty, a humble one is full. Choose your own adventure. Passages in Joshua, Luke, Psalms, and Proverbs are selected for today in the yearly Bible. This is Eve de Bartleaban, Robuk.