Skip to main content

Failure

             May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8)

Sometimes, I think when we read these words, we’re expecting God to change so that whatever comes out of our mouths or wanders through our minds is acceptable to God. After all, it’s just part of who we are. Perhaps some of us hope that God will miraculously make the unacceptable words and meditations go away. What it really means, of course, is that our goal is to learn to speak and think in a manner pleasing to God. As yesterday’s verses (quoted again above) point out, what we should be talking about and meditating on is whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and/or praiseworthy. It goes back to the old saying, “If you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything.”

It's much later in the day, and I have to admit that much of it has not involved words or meditations that God is likely to have found pleasing. I had the day off, so I set it aside to get lots of cooking done. I’m supposed to take a snack for 50 to a meeting tomorrow, so mini-muffins were on the to-do list, along with soup and dog food. Lots of dishes were done over and over again. All in all, I probably did better than I deserve, but one of the batches of mini-muffins would not come out of the pan, so it’s now 5 pm and I’m only halfway there on the muffins. Between the dishes and the recipe failure, I’m frustrated. In fact, I’m frustrated enough that I went to the store and bought a mix. But the point is, my meditations aren’t what I think would please God.

          But God is still God, and He is good. A solution was found. God would still be God and good even if a solution weren’t found. Things are almost ready for tomorrow. The crisis has passed, and as frustrating as it was, it wasn’t as devastating as it seems to me it would have been in the past. God has brought me this far, even if I’m still not “pretty.”

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen!

  While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5)            Do you like roller coasters? I don't. You spend forever climbing a hill. You get to the top and have half a second, then you race down to a low point. Sometimes the racing down involves tying your insides into knots. At the bottom, you either have to be dragged up another hill or you get off the ride. Peter's life was a roller coaster from the time he met Jesus. There would be miracles, and then Jesus would teach things that didn't always make sense, and then they'd go out and perform miracles, and return to be taught. Peter was praised for giving the right answer to "Who do you say that I am?" Jesus said that said answer came from God. Peter was at the top of the hill.            ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Prayer Lists

                 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. (I Peter 2:2-3)   In connection with what I wrote yesterday about the possibility that I’m wrong, I’m feeling the need to go back to basics - craving spiritual milk because somehow, I missed something. It’s a little embarrassing, craving milk like a newborn, but the truth probably is that we are newborns many times in many ways in our lives. From God’s perspective, we may never be anything more than newborns, forever needing that milk. On the other hand, being a newborn can also be exciting because so much is new. My mind is playing pinball - ricocheting from one idea to the next and through six more before it happens to hit the third again. The main topic is prayer. I have at least seven organizing structures all somewhat influenced by the movie War Room , which I’v...
Post a Comment
Read more