Crumbs Under the Table

Emotions are like waves crashing upon the beach. They ebb and they flow in a fairly predictable manner.

However, sometimes, when stirred up by a notable storm, they can be quite violent, even destructive. And just when you think the storm is over and the waves are growing more placid, a memory comes to mind of someone says something that reopens your wounds. Like an aftershock on the ocean floor, they reinvigorate the waves to once again resume their assault on dry land.

The voices of the three false comforters continue to cry out to your soul to do something!

 “You’ve got to fight! Don’t give up! Don’t quit! Fight”

“It’s not your fault! Somebody did this to you! You don’t deserve this.”

“Just cut loose!”

“Forget about God! Let’s try something new!”

Like the Sirens of Greek mythology calling sailors ever so sweetly and seductively to their death, so the world, our flesh and the devil play their varied yet ever so familiar tunes on the strings of our hearts.

But, the question remains. What are we to do when we find ourselves in the midst of miserable circumstances? Where do we go for shelter while the storm is raging?

If we have dug deep and laid the foundation of our lives on the rock of obedience to our Master’s words¹, then there is only one thing to do:

…and having done all, to stand.²

Though it may not seem heroic, there are times when there is only one simple yet courageous action to take:  to stand our ground. Don’t be tricked into moving. During violent storms, the primary objective is to stay on safe ground.

The Holy Spirit sheds some light on the eternal consequences of this rather mundane action.

:21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled :22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight-– :23 if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel…³

We are always so eager to know God’s plan for our life. Here He lets us peek behind the curtains of eternity to see a part of that plan:

“to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight –”

What a moment that will be! But that glorious moment in eternity future depends upon small decisions that we make here on earth today.

“…if indeed you continue in the faith,”

We were living by the faith in God and His Word before these storms suddenly appeared. Will we choose to continue?

“… grounded and steadfast,

We were walking by faith, leaning on God’s promises before the circumstances of our life were turned upside down. Are our roots still firmly planted in the soil of His Word?

“and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel

Will we continue to cling to His hope for our future with the same conviction? Or will we allow the waves of our emotions to move us to a “more reasonable” expectation?

The enemy constantly works to obscure our vision so that we can only see what is immediately in front of us. Pretending to be our ally, he cries aloud in a voice that sounds very much like our own,

“Forget about eternity! What about now?

He cries loud enough to make sure that we cannot hear him muttering his true intentions under his breath

“Your birthright for a bowl of stew!”⁴

We will forget the illusory comfort promised by that bowl of stew as soon as we partake of it!

As bad as things may be right now, in just a few short years, the moment will come when God the Son will present you to God the Father and He will pronounce you as blameless in His sight. At that moment, there will be no regrets that we stood firm and continued fighting the fight of faith. We must not let the Enemy bluff us out of our eternal future.

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”⁵

1. Luke 6:47-49 [↩]
2. Eph 6:13 [↩]
3. Col 1:21-23 [↩]
4. Heb 12:16 [↩]
5. 2 Tim 4:7 [↩]

When adversity comes upon us, many voices clamor for our attention and action. Just as Job had not one but three friends to advise him in his hardship, so we too have three familiar, loud voices that are very quick to offer us advice.

The voice of the world calls our adversity or calamity ‘bad luck’ or ‘karma’. Since the kosmos is ruled by the impersonal god of Chance and Randomness, Fate must be against us. They offer us two familiar responses. We can either choose to strengthen our resolve to overcome our Fate through sheer determination and effort or we can lash out in bitterness against the people or things who brought about our demise and then shrink into the corner to wallow in the debilitating false comfort of self-pity. In the end, the former choice leaves our soul hardened, exhausted and angry; the latter will see us shriveled, crippled and twisted.

The voice of the flesh entices us to anesthetize our pain by by letting loose and engaging in each and every form of sin that it can find.

 Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in licentiousness and lewdness, not in strife and envy.¹

Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament points out that each of these works of the flesh² are in the plural form: revelries, repeated drunkenness, multiple acts of licentiousness and lewdness. If we heed this voice, by the time we finish debauching ourselves, we feel so defiled by our sin that the original problem no longer seems so bad.

The most insidious voice belongs to the devil himself. Disguising himself as the voice of reason and maturity, he will inevitably suggest that our setback merely serve to prove that God doesn’t really love us; that we have been playing a big religious game and are finally seeing life ‘for what it really is’; that the Bible may be true for others but certainly not for us; that God has singled us out.

After all, doesn’t God promise to bless those who serve Him? And look at you! This is blessing? This is how He rewards you?…

You expected too much. Did you really think that God actually cared about the details of your life? Did you really believe that He was actually watching over you? Wow! Were you ever dreaming!

Children believe in that stuff. You just need to grow up and face reality. Did you really think that you were that important?

He takes the very pain, disappointment, loss and confusion that should press us to run to “the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,”³ and presents them to us as “evidence” or “proof” that God has abandoned us.

Jesus said that “there is no truth in him (the devil). Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature; for he is a liar, and the father of lies.”⁴

There is another voice, but am I willing to listen?

1. Rom 13:13 NKJV [↩]
2. Gal 5:19-21 [↩]
3. 2 Cor 1:3 [↩]
4. John 8:44 NASB [↩]