THE JOY OF GOD IS MY STRENGTH
MIKE CUNNINGHAM
JANUARY 20, 2013

Last Tuesday, two of our grandson’s, 11 year-old Kaegan who is autistic and his 8 year-old brother Finnegan along with their Mom Cathy hung out at our home for several hours. As usual, it was nice to have them and a lot of fun. I was even able to snag a brief interview with the boys to share with you folks in today’s message. Here it is:

Grandpa: “Do you boys ever get angry and argue with each other?

Keagan: “He does weird stuff!”

Finnegan: “Same here.”

Keagan: “He tells ridiculous jokes.”

Keagan: “He goes DDD. He makes stupid sounds!”

Keagan: “He burps in my face!”

Grandpa: “Do you apologize to your brother, Finnegan? Do you tell him that you’re sorry?”

Finnegan: “I do apologize to him.”

Grandpa: “Who taught you to apologize?”

Finnegan: “No one taught me. I just developed it.”

Grandpa: “Does Keagan accept your apology?”

Finnegan: “Usually.”

Grandpa: “Suppose he doesn’t.”

Finnegan: “If he keeps bugging me I go up to my room and listen to music.”

Grandpa: “What if he’s still angry with you when you come back down?”

Finnegan: “If he still bugs me I go to mommy or daddy and the bugging stops?

Grandpa: “Do you pray and ask God to help you?”

Finnegan: “I ask God to help me to forgive him and it usually works.”

Grandpa: “Only sometimes?”

Finnegan: “Maybe God’s trying to teach me to learn some things by myself.”

Grandpa: “How about being happy when you boy’s are angry?”

Keagan: “We’re not happy when we’re angry with each other?”

Finnegan: “Yeah! We’re both miserable. We’re very sad. God wants us to have peace. He wants peace in the whole world, but nobody listens to God.”

Grandpa: “Are you doing your part?”

Finnegan: “I once told two younger boys who weren’t getting along to make a deal about how they can stop being mean to each other. They did and now they’re friends again.”

Grandpa: “Are you boys at peace with each other?”
Finnegan: “Yes we are.”

Keagan: “And we’re happy all day.”

Grandpa: “Guess What?”

Keagan and Finnegan: “What!”

Grandpa: “I’m proud of you guys, and I love each of you very much.”

Keagan: “Can we go play now?”

Since the birth parents of each of the boys were struggling with multiple character flaws and other issues they both agreed that our daughter Cathy and her husband John could adopt them. I’m happy that they did because I love those grandchildren just as I do the other fourteen. Keagan and Finnegan aren’t worrying about where their next meal is coming from or if they will be warm enough during our freezing Vermont winters. They trust that their parents will take care of them, and, as Keagan put it, “We’re happy all day!” Are you folks happy all day and do you have that kind of trust that God will provide for you as those two kids have in their parents; or do you rob yourselves of joy of God by worrying?

In “Trusting God Even When Life Hurts,” Jerry Bridges wrote that, “This story actually happened. It’s recorded for us in the Bible in the Book of Exodus. You know the story: The Israelites were the cruelly oppressed people, forced to “make bricks without straw.” Suddenly God intervenes in their lives and Pharaoh says, “Get out!” But the Israelites had no resources for making the journey, for starting over again, they were poverty stricken. God had foreseen this problem, however, and had made plans to overcome it. He had said to Moses:
1 “And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed. 22 Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians.” Exodus 3:21-22 (NIV)

“What God promised did indeed come to pass.”

35 The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. 36 The LORD had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians. Exodus 12:35-36 (NIV)

“How did God do this? We don’t know. We only know what the text tells us. It is obvious that the Egyptians acted freely and voluntarily of their own wills. Yet they acted that way because as the text says, “The Lord had made [them] favorably disposed toward [the Israelites].” God in some mysterious way moved in their hearts so that they, of their own free choice, did exactly what He planned for them to do. God sovereignly intervened in the hearts-the desires and wills-of the Egyptians to accomplish His purpose for the Israelites.”

“All of us at times find ourselves and our futures seemingly in the hands of other people. Their decisions or their actions determine whether we get a good grade or poor one, whether we are promoted or fired, whether our careers blossom or fold. I am not overlooking our responsibility in these situations, but all of us know that even when we have done our best, we are still dependent on the favor or frown of that teacher or boss or commanding officer, We are, from a human point of view, often at the mercy of people and their decisions or actions.”

“Sometimes those decisions or their actions are benevolent and good, sometimes they are wicked or careless. Either way they do affect us, often in a significant way Pgs.56-57.

In “When I Am Afraid,” Edward T. Welch reminds us that, “The ways of God are better and wiser than our own. Although He doesn’t choose last minute deliverances every time, He assures us that this is one of His parenting strategies with His children. The greatest gift He could give is the gift of faith, in which we learn to trust Him in good times and bad, and those deliverances can be wonderful opportunities. The person who is open to learn from them will be fearless, free, and content.”

“Think about it. You will trust in something or someone; that’s part of being human. You will trust in your silos, your spouse, your wealth, your loved ones, your cunning, or your health-or you will trust in the Lord. Trust in things that are untrustworthy, and you are trusting in quicksand. You are trusting in things that cannot sustain the weight of your trust. And fear, of course, will be the result. Trust in the Lord and you are secure.”

“What we need is a divine tutorial, and God often uses seemingly dire circumstances for His best tutorials.”

“Travel back into biblical history for a moment. The people of Israel have just been liberated from Egyptian bondage. It is one of the most important moments in the Old Testament. By God’s power, and His power alone, they were leaving 400 years of slavery, and they were leaving with their sacks full of Egyptian provisions.”

“Then they receive a most unusual directive: God tells the people to double back toward the Egyptians so Pharaoh will think they are confused and vulnerable (Exodus14:2.) Smelling blood, Pharaoh pursues the trapped and defenseless Israelites. His army is in front of them, and the impassable sea is behind them. No doubt the strategy must have had Moses scratching his head. Moses’ aids questioning his sanity, and the people are mad-and scared. They said to Moses,

11 They told Moses, “Weren’t the cemeteries large enough in Egypt so that you had to take us out here in the wilderness to die? What have you done to us, taking us out of Egypt? 12 Back in Egypt didn’t we tell you this would happen? Didn’t we tell you, ‘Leave us alone here in Egypt—we’re better off as slaves in Egypt than as corpses in the wilderness.’ ” 13 Moses spoke to the people: “Don’t be afraid. Stand firm and watch GOD do his work of salvation for you today. Take a good look at the Egyptians today for you’re never going to see them again. 14 “GOD will fight the battle for you. And you? You keep your mouths shut!” Exodus 14:11-14 (MSG)

We must constantly remind ourselves and each of the other folks in our small church that just as God took care of us every one of our yesterdays, He will do the same today and all of our tomorrows. He doesn’t want us to worry. God wants us to trust Him and to,

10 “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10 (NIV)

“Stand still and watch a pivotal event in the history of Israel? That is certainly a counterintuitive directive to fearful people. Fear calls for fight or flight, not standing and watching. But in this case, as with most eleventh-hour moments, no other choice exists. They have no weapons and there is no place to go. It is the perfect tutorial. They can only direct their saucer-like eyes to how the Lord will keep His promise to them. Keep it He does. The Egyptian army is destroyed, and the people walk on dry land.”

30 That day the LORD saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. 31 And when the Israelites saw the great power the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant. Exodus 14:30-31 (NIV)

“Nice deliverance, isn’t it? Doesn’t it make you wish that God would do such things now? But remember this: you live when God’s power is even more on display than it was then. The Spirit of God has been given, and the kingdom of heaven is advancing. Somehow, we have access to and even better deliverance.”

“You can probably remember times when you thought everything was crashing down around you and there was no way out. Yet as you look back you can see that there was a way out. God guided you on a path through the trouble.”

“If you had been one of the people who were trapped by the Egyptian armies; you would, no doubt, have been overrun by fear. But once delivered, if you faced a similar situation later, you might be less scared. You might simply think, I wonder how the Lord will deliver me this time.”

“That is the story of life when you put your trust in the King. This calmness is His desire for you. You know the ending, and you are assured that it will be good, even better than you can imagine.”

“Here is the choice when you face desperate situations: they can either be moments that lead you in abject terror, or they can be times when the loving Father teaches you some of the most wonderful lessons of your life.”

“Which perspective do you choose? Even if you choose God’s perspective, your confidence in Him won’t be perfect. But over time you will find that you will turn to Him more quickly. Pgs. 16-19.

On the blog, “Two Thoughts For Each Day,” Kristi Hoseby asks, “Have you ever pleaded with God over and over again to answer your prayer? Or felt such desperation in your soul, that you prayed all night long begging God to hear your prayer? But deep down, did you really expect God to hear you?”

In “The Christian Atheist, Craig Groeschel says that, “A pastor once asked his church to pray that God would shut down a neighborhood bar. The whole church gathered for an evening prayer meeting, pleading with God to rid the neighborhood of the evils of this bar. A few weeks later, lightning struck the bar and it burned to the ground.”

“Having heard about the churches prayer crusade, the bar owner promptly sued the church. When the court date finally arrived, the bar owner passionately argued that God struck his bar with lightning because of the church members’ prayers. The pastor backtracked, brushing off the accusations. He admitted the church prayed, but he also affirmed that no one in his congregation really expected anything to happen.”

“The judge leaned back in his chair, a mix of amusement and perplexity on his face. Finally he spoke: “I can’t believe what I’m hearing. Right in front of me is a bar owner who believes in the power of prayer and a pastor who doesn’t.” p.75

“The Book of Hope” offers the following biblical insight. “The study of God’s Word should lead to joy. Simply reading the Bible and studying its contents is not enough. Several other things must also take place. We must make the study of God’s Word a priority. Our study of God’s Word should lead to worship. We need to take time understand what passages mean. We need to rejoice about what we have learned and share it with others. We need to apply what we have learned. As we study, understand, and obey God’s Word, it produces joy in our life. And that joy of God will be our strength, carrying us through the trials of life,” Pgs. 30-31.

Have any of you folks been so desperate that you have pleaded with God every waking moment, over and over again, begging God to answer your prayer? Of course, you have, and so have I. But did we really expect God to answer our prayer? I can identify with those people who didn’t because I had forgotten that “The Joy of God Is My Strength.”

I’m hoping and praying that as Keagan and Finnegan become older, their parents and the rest of us who love those boys will teach them the same biblical fact and that we will demonstrate it by the manner in which we live our daily lives.

Lord willing, next week….