July 11--3 Pieces Of Advice While You Wait For Your Best Life

A 50th high school reunion had me in a flurry of shopping and worrying until I read these passages and believed what they told me:  1 Chronicles 11-12, Acts 28, Psalm 9:1-12, Proverbs 19:1. 

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Eve reads her Bible journal aloud on this episode.

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Transcript

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July 11. Three pieces of advice while you wait for your best life. I won't be reading the scripture references. For those, please check the written post. My fiftieth high school reunion is right around the corner. I'm going despite the fact that this will be my first one ever. Where have you been? I imagine my old friends asking. Building a life, raising children, falling apart and getting put back together, you know, the usual, I imagine myself answering, but maybe I'll stay out of the deep end altogether. After all, close as we once were, these friends are now strangers. Maybe I'll paddle around in safer surfacey waters, like reminiscing about the times we did Chinese fire drills or how much we've all changed, or sizing up what everybody's wearing. Actually, I've had difficulty sizing up what I'll be wearing. I want something that hides my fifty years because my friends will be hiding theirs. My closet was not helpful, so I went shopping. Sadly, there are no racks at the mall. TJ Maxx or J. Crew that say these clothes will hide fifty years. The dress code suggestion in the email of Business Casual was ludicrous. We're retired for goodness sake. Who wants to wear business anything now? I fell back on my people to style me. Four daughters high fived a dress that I found hiding in the back of my closet. No, it's not skanky, they assured me, which was why I'd never worn it. My stylish cousin helped me pick out shoes. My college bestie found the perfect bracelet on Poshmark. Now that clothing is settled, I hope I can forget myself and listen to what my friends have been doing since we graduated. I hope they found their best lives, but just in case they haven't, I'll bring my swimsuit. Someone may need to deep dive and want a friend nearby. Today's passages give three pieces of good advice while we all wait for our best lives.

1 Chronicles 11-12

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The Old Testament chapters are first Chronicles eleven to twelve. After Saul's death, the fighting men of Israel turned out to support David as the next king. They feasted and celebrated in Hebron for three days, determined to make David their king just as God had said, and they were full of joy over it, but nobody's joy could have equaled David's. For years he'd been on the run from Saul and bided his time, refusing to lift a hand when he'd had the chance and chiding those who'd urged him to do otherwise. A passerby who claimed to have mercy killed Saul in his final hours came to David to report his death, no doubt thinking he'd be rewarded, but this Amalekite was mistaken and came to his own bitter end for quote, lifting his hand to destroy the Lord's anointed, end quote. Because David took God's choice of Saul seriously, even though God regretted it, and even though God had promised David the kingdom after Saul, already Samuel had anointed him as Saul's replacement, but David never did one thing to make it happen. It's hard to wait for God's timing, especially when you're confident of a better life than the one you're currently living. It would take a lot of faith to trust God as David did, waiting for the future God had already promised. For years before his promise was fulfilled, David was on the run and cut off from his family and the comforts of home, work, and routine. I have trouble when I'm sick for more than two days for this very reason. I want to return to my life and the things that are meaningful, but David didn't push into the future God promised. He was patient and waited, even when the waiting included a long period of suffering. Here's a quick rundown. He suffered the loss of Saul's good opinion who was his employer, his father in law, and his king. He suffered the inevitable misunderstanding of others who believed the rumors Saul sent round about him, and he suffered the fear for his life. Sometimes death was just around the bend. He suffered taking up residence with his riffraff followers inside an enemy nation and sucking up to its king in order to survive. He suffered mutiny by these followers who threatened to kill him when their families were carted off, and he worried not only for his own life but for his parents, his families, his friends, and his followers. What gave David the resilience to keep going? What held him together when everything around him fell apart? The Bible tells us, quote, David found strength in the Lord his God, end quote. During the misery of the mutiny, David asked the priest to bring the ephod because he wanted to hear what God said. His word brought him consolation. Despite his circumstances and despite what others said against him, God's words grounded him. And this is instructive on this day when I'm tempted to look to my wardrobe and saggy skin to tell me who I am now. But listening to what God says in his word pulls me up short because he gives me only good news as I face the years ahead. David himself reminds me that God, quote, forgives all your sins, heals all your diseases, redeems your life from the pit, crowns you with love and compassion, and satisfies your desires with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagles. As if that's not enough, another psalmist says that the righteous, who are those who trust in Jesus, flourish in old age like palm trees and cedars. They quote, stay fresh and green, end quote, no withering here, because they're planted in God's house and praise him for his goodness. God is their rock, so they're unmoved by the aging that rages. Want more? Isaiah says that God gives strength to the weak, though young people might grow exhausted, quote, those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they fly on wings like eagles, they run and aren't weary, they walk and don't stumble. Hoping in the Lord sure sounds like the fountain of youth to me. And this is the secret God's people discover. And it's hardly a secret as it's written in plain English right here in my Bible. They put their hope in the Lord, they proclaim his goodness, they're planted in His presence, and they praise Him all day. This was how holy women of old made themselves beautiful. They quote, put their hope in the Lord, end quote, not in surgeries, injections, creams, cosmetics, or clothing. Theirs was a beauty that never faded and was, quote, of great worth in God's sight, end quote. Fresh and green, unfaded beauty, resilient as a palm tree, strong as cedar, soaring like an eagle, moving without stumbling, in short, fully alive and thriving. What more could anyone ask for who's looking for anti aging benefits? Absolutely nothing I can think of. But what does it actually mean to put my hope in the Lord? Here's what it means to me. When I'm tempted to worry about one of my kids, I remind myself that my hope is not in him or her to treat me well or even to turn out right, which is the lie I believe when worry strips my sanity. My certain hope is in God, and he will never let me down. Even if this child does, my God won't. My life is in his hands, not theirs, and I am always safe and held and cared for, period. When I'm tempted to worry about myself or my husband and the years we have left, I remind myself that my hope is not in us and our health or the legacy I hope to leave behind. My hope is in God who carries us and will see us all the way through death and out the other side into paradise where he and everyone I love is. I have nothing to fear because my hope is not in us, my hope is in God, who promises never to leave or forsake us. When I'm tempted to feel dejected by the news I just got or the frown on another's face or the added pounds on the scales, I remind myself that my hope is not in the tidings that disquiet the friends that disappoint or the weight that dismays me. My hope is in God who calms, cheers, and comforts, and he is enough. Putting my hope in God isn't something I say for one day when nothing else is working. It's for each and every day now. The soul who practices hoping in God's source today is fresh and green today, is beautiful today, not just one day. Like David, I want to say, quote, my hope is in you all day long, end quote, so that I can live light and free always, trusting God to bring about the good things He promises. Hoping in God doesn't just change your future, it changes who you follow and who's following you now. It changes your sense of freedom. It even changes your face. The excellent wife whose hope was in God smiled at the future. She didn't panic and make umptine appointments. She spent her time serving and giving, working and thriving, and laughing. What do you want your best life to look like? First piece of advice put your hope in God

Acts 28

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while you wait for your best life to show up. The New Testament chapter is Acts twenty eight. The last verse of this chapter of Acts makes me tear up. Paul's faith despite his being under house arrest twenty four seven was remarkable enough, but that his door was always open so that he could tell them about Jesus was over the top. I love his passion, his availability, his tenacity. I love how he modeled God's open door to those who came to hear him. I love how he so obviously trusted God, no matter his longings, location, logistics, or the pushback he got from others. Like Jesus, Paul's desire was to do what God wanted, which was to spread the good news of his love to everyone who'd listen. I'm guessing that like Jesus, Paul was joy filled to the brim to do God's will. But what do you do if you can't trust God like this? You talk to him and ask for his help. You soak in his word from which faith springs. You keep seeking him like it's your job because it is. God didn't just ask Paul to spread the good news of Jesus, he asks each of us too. Second piece of advice pray, read the Bible, and share your faith while you wait for your best life to begin.

Psalm 9:1-12, Prayer, Proverbs 19:1

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From Psalm nine, one to twelve. David thanks God from a full heart, laughing, singing, jumping for joy, and why? Because once again, God's come through in the trenches, sent enemies packing, kicked their butts. God is judge means bullies get what's coming, while God worshipers get to celebrate. God is a safe house, a sanctuary, a hideaway, a resort. David says to sing songs to him from full hearts and tell his stories to everyone because God tracks down killers, yet keeps his eye on us, and his ears hear our every sigh and groan. These aren't pie in the sky promises, they're ones that bolster us through hard times. God's promises invite me to trust him. I wouldn't think of him as my hiding place if he hadn't said that's what he is, and because he said it, I can run to him and hide in him whenever I need to. I found it's worth the heartache it costs to get where God is. You don't get him like this until you need him like this and have nowhere else to go, and then you do. The peace and joy where God is are so full they're overflowing. He draws you through your troubles straight to himself and holds you close so you can feel the veins in his arms, the beat of his heart, the warmth of his love. Third piece of advice run to God in suffering while you wait for your best life to shape up prayer. God, only you could give me my best life by drawing me to yourself through the troubles I struggle with. Thank you for every one of them. The work you're doing is hard and I hate it, but the joy is worth it. Thank you for not leaving me to my own devices. In Jesus' name, so be it. From Proverbs 19 1. A trusted and poor person beats a rich and unreliable one. The passages in First Chronicles, Acts, Psalms, and Proverbs are selected for today in the yearly Bible. This is Eve de Bartelaban roebuck.