Mud? or Stars?

"When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are so mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? Psalm 8:3-4

God cares. David had an opportunity as a shepherd to 'consider the heavens', to be directed to 'set his eyes on the things above' as he cared for his fathers sheep while gazing at the night skies. He seen through the darkness to the vastness and brilliance of the stars that filled the Eastern skies. He seen the greatness of the hand of God and the work of His fingers, convinced of a God who ordained the heavens, a God whose splendor filled him with amazement and admiration as he thought of God's favor upon him. The same God who spoke light into existence and filled the heavens with the stars, who orders the heavens, is the same God who ordains our life and is so mindful of us today.

The same God. It is truly amazing to think that the same God who created the universe is so concerned for you and me. As we lift our eyes on the things above and think of the glory of the Lord and the creation of the Milky Way with its 100 billion stars, the power of our Creator becomes magnified in our lives and the more we realize how amazing and how capable He is! The Bible says that God calls each star by name (Psalm 147:4, Isaiah 40:26) and this is astonishing as I ponder the thought that "nothing is too difficult for Him" (Jeremiah 32:17), even this! Yet, even more astonishing is the fact that our great God is so mindful of us, how significant we are to Him, how He cares and is so very concerned about us all and the relationship we have with Him.

Nothing is too difficult for Him. What does this day find yourself in that causes you to fear, to fret, to walk in mixed emotions that want to govern your will as uncertainties in your life come and try to bear down on you their limit-less power upon your heart? Look up, allow His will to govern your heart. All is governed by His wisdom and power and we can be certain of His good towards us. Look up through the darkness and see the vastness and brilliance of the stars, this is the un-limited power of our Creator and Lord!

Our will vs. God's. Choices.... "Two men look out of the same prison bars, one sees mud and the other sees stars!"

Choices. Living by faith sounds easy and it is spoken of much but it is often difficult and demands a choice, a choice to surrender our will for His as we remember that His ways are not our own. The Lord reminded me recently through the psalmist who writes of the confidence we have in God from his own experiences and the choice I had between 'my need to understand or simply trust'. It is good to trust in the salvation of the Lord under each trial as he penned, "My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty. I do not aspire to great matters or things too lofty for me. Surely I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with his mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, both now and forever more." - Psalm 131:1-3.

Trusting in Him. No matter how impossible our situation appears, faith says it is the very place where God wants us to be. The Faithful One who calls us to endure hardship always has a purpose and it is reassuring to know that He is very aware of our inefficiencies and weaknesses. This is the perfect place for Him to act on our behalf as we do what is next and trust in Him.

The perfect place. The idea of 'doing the next thing' presided over our lives as a family, allowing us to live day by day in the presence of the Lord as we walked through many emotions related to Randy's illness. He had a gift for living each day in the fullest of the Lord. I new that Randy had always taught me how to live and now I know he was teaching me how to die. I knew that only through faith and obedience would the challenges of each new day become life - giving to our spirit and that even through this difficult trial God was asking to use us bring His life - giving spirit to many others instead of trying to seek understanding...the understanding was not our responsibility, only the Lord's..for His glory.

"Doing the next thing". Several years ago these words by Elisabeth Elliot greatly ministered to my heart and I have been reminded of them as each new trial comes. Her story and marriage to Jim Elliot (a missionary who was killed while reaching the Waorani Indians in the jungles of Ecuador in 1956) and her many writings of the suffering she endured helped shape my faith over the years. After her husbands death she chose to return to the jungles with her 10 month old daughter to continue to serve the Lord and to continue the work of her husband. Many came to faith because of the fruit of their sacrifice as she allowed the Lord to use her suffering for the redemption of many.

God's will. During this time of difficulty and great grief while caring for her baby and ministering to others she wrote as she returned to the jungles, "I was filled with many confusions and uncertainties. I had many new roles, besides being a single parent and a widow...learning how to do many new things and feeling very unprepared in the circumstance I found myself in. It was a great help to simply 'do the next thing'. I tried to take each duty quietly as the will of God for the moment." As we read this even today I am certain many of you can relate....I can.

I can relate. I thank God for these wise words of godly wisdom. This we too are capable of doing as well...doing the next thing. This is our responsibility and then God will do His. Choosing to do our part. Choosing to keep our eyes on the Lord. Choosing to look through the darkness at the stars. Choosing to gift others, despite the pain, with our love. It is a choice.

Stars. I think of Joseph and the prison he found himself in despite his innocence. It all was part of God's perfect plan to prepare him for what would be next, his next steps to become Prime Minister of Egypt. For Paul Bunyan too, imprisonment became part of Gods plan as he 'did the next thing' while there and penned Pilgrims Progress, choosing to take each moment to do the will of the Father. He wrote, "I never had in all my life so great an inlet into the Word of God as in prison". And we know the story of Paul...who penned many of the Epistles from a prison cell..doing the next thing....doing the will of God despite difficult circumstances. So many beautiful examples for us all, all choosing to do the next while waiting on God for His perfect timing to be made known to them.

Waiting. The Lord who promises us in Psalm 91:5 that "I will be with him in trouble" was with each of these saints in their prison circumstances and the same Lord also promises us that "I will rescue him and honor him". As we wait on Him we can be sure of His promise that He will deliver and through our suffering He will be glorified as we endure along with the faithful saints who have gone before us, faithful to the end.

Enduring. God calls us to trust in Him, regardless. Randy often reminded me that we are a people of faith and faith allows us to endure. God's ways our not our own, they are higher. His ways are past our understanding, they are perfect. "Wait for the Lord; be strong and take hearts and wait for the Lord." Psalm 27:14 "Imprisonment" seems unbearable to our souls, an unfair place as the enemy would want us to believe. Our prison experiences so often seem like a place of abandonment a place of hopelessness but they are the place we get to know God more. They are the places our faith is tried as we wait patiently, quietly and faithfully on Him.

His desire. He wants to be enough for us. He is always enough in whatever we are facing. More than enough. This is the relationship He desire's between us and Him. He is fully and completely trustworthy. He wants us to trust in Him always, to always remember who He is. To know that there is nothing too hard for Him...no difficulty that we can find ourselves in that is beyond His plan nor His redemption.

God's perfect plan. May we choose each day not to look down at the mud but up towards the stars. May we keep our eyes fixed on the things above while doing the next thing. May we watch what God will do as we do our part. For "all things shall be on God's appointed day, it may not be tomorrow - yet it may"

"The gates of brass all broken; iron bars, transfigured form a ladder to the stars. Rough places plain, and crooked ways all straight, for him with a patient heart can wait. These things shall be on God's appointed day: it may not be tomorrow - yet it may" (anonymous)

As I choose to look up at the stars this evening I am reminded of His resplendent glory and that there is no end in sight to His love towards us and to His greatness. Thank you Father, Great is Your faithfulness!

In His love,

Michelle A. Guerra