“Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world’” (John 9:1-6).

Has life ever hit you so hard that it’s left you questioning God?

Your boss lays you off. The industry you prepared years in school to enter collapses. Your spouse of 25 years says they don’t love you anymore, and leaves. The doctor says it’s cancer.  The teenager you raised in church gets arrested. The loved one you held up in prayer for healing, dies anyway.

Still, you haven’t lost your faith. You love God but you have been left perplexed and confused, lost and a bit broken. You turn to the One who holds your world in His hands and cry out asking How God…When God...Why God?!

-Why won’t this go away?

-Why don’t You fix it?

-Why me…and why now?

-When is it going to be over?

-When will it be my turn?

-What did I do to deserve this?

Have you ever been there?

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Throughout their lives, many of God’s kids carry around a big, heavy, burlap bag called guilt. We pick up this heavy burden of guilt from many different places, don’t we? For example, we pick up the bag of guilt from:

- Missing opportunities

- Failing to “measure up”

- Doing something we know we shouldn’t have

- Becoming jaded by life, circumstances, or people

- Interpreting our family upbringing negatively

- Viewing God as an angry ogre who is waiting to “get us”

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“Rest in God alone, O my soul, for my hope comes from Him” (Psalm 62:5).

Just a few years ago, most people felt like they were on pretty solid ground. But now they find themselves in circumstances they would never have predicted. People are feeling anxious and are dealing with unprecedented pressures. Many are anxious, worried about what the future will bring. Faced with staggering inflation, high interest rates, 401ks that have dropped in value, moral decay, and threats of layoffs looming large, it seems that hope itself has been collectively sucked out of the lives of so many people.

Yet, against this backdrop God stands with outstretched arms, beckoning us to shift our hope from temporal things – things that are here today and gone tomorrow – and to place our hope in Him. In Christ, we have been given this promise:

“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure” (Hebrews 6:19).

It’s a different kind of hope than worldly hope. It’s enduring and enables us to hope in the face of hopelessness. It has the audacity to remain at peace in the midst of the worst storms of life.

One that keeps on praying and praising in the face of life’s obstacles.

God encourages us to share this hope with the people of the world who find themselves in desperate need. Like the woman who had a life-altering encounter with Jesus at a dusty Samarian well, we can give this gift of hope to others!

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“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10).

Relationships really matter, and recent scientific research supports this conclusion.

In a famous study on what lifestyle attributes make for human health and longevity, the Alameda County Study, researchers tracked the habits of nearly 8,000 residents of Alameda County, California, for decades. It tracked the typical things like smoking, exercise, weight, sleep and alcohol consumption and concluded that healthy habits improve the chances for a longer life. But what makes it particularly interesting is a cohort study that included an examination of the impact of having close a connection with others (feeling loved, cared for, and valued) in a personal relationship. 

Surprisingly, the study found that the most isolated people were three times more likely to die than the most relationally connected people, and that people who had bad health habits (smoker, poor diet, obese, heavy alcohol use), but also had strong relational connections, lived significantly longer than people who had great health habits, but were isolated.

So apparently, it’s better to eat Twinkies with good friends than to eat broccoli alone!

Kidding aside, it’s clear that relationships really do matter. In fact, our God-given destiny is often tied to our relationships. That is, we simply cannot fulfill our God-given purpose for existence by ourselves. We need others along the way – just as God intended.

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We must keep in mind that even in the best of times, the enemy whispers lies, playing on our insecurities and fears, and casting discouragement in order to keep us down. Everyone must deal with discouragement and understand that regardless of how our current circumstances may appear, the truth is, as the Apostle Paul stated, we “can do all things through Christ!” (Philippians 4:13).

When your untamed mouth starts down the path of destruction – be a lion tamer and stop, listen to, and yield to the Holy Spirit instead. He is the good Ring Master in this crazy life circus. 

But as much as we hope these efforts will create a greater life for ourselves and our families, we often break them in a matter of weeks. Why? For the main reason that we focus on our own efforts and power to attain our desired goals, and not on the “because” - which is Jesus! 

Most of us by the time we reach adulthood, find ourselves walking with a hobble and limping our way into the presence of Almighty God! You may think that a limp makes you weak and vulnerable, but God’s word tells a different story.

We usually think big barriers must equal bad outcomes. Not only is this unscriptural, it is self-defeating. But how do we ditch this problem perspective, refocus on the promises of God and develop a promise perspective instead?

“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men’” (Luke 2:13-14).

Why does it seem that “peace on earth, good will toward men” is inapplicable in holiday traffic? Or at Black Friday sales. Or during Christmas dinner with disagreeable in-laws? The way most of us celebrate the holidays causes extraordinary mental stress, and difficulty in keeping our lives in balance. Whether it’s because of running here and there, cramming more than humanly possible into the holiday schedule, or dealing with sadness, loneliness and emotional pain, there is no doubt about it – we all need to experience more of the Christmas promise of peace.

And I love that God sent the angel to announce peace on earth from the Prince of Peace Himself, at the precise moment of Mary and Joseph’s need – when the stress surrounding His birth had reached its pinnacle. In fact, the young couple learned a lot about having peace during that first Christmas that can help us this Christmas as well.

The same peace that pierced their struggles and empowered them to carry on in the face of hardship and uncertainly, is a promise to each and every one of us. So if you’re stressed out and can’t take anymore, are spent emotionally, and struggling just to keep going… 

If the holidays have brought you a sense of despair instead of joy and gratitude, I’ve got good news for you – the Savior of the world and the Prince of Peace is holding out one of the most powerful promises in the universe – peace!

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Are you a planner, a list maker, a box checker? Do you like to have every detail of the Christmas season planned weeks in advance, gifts bought and wrapped by Thanksgiving, dinner reservations made, and show tickets picked up early? These are all good and noble goals.

But are you also the kind of planner who makes the holidays miserable for the rest of the family, because everything is about being at a certain place at a certain time, regardless of the family stress and conflict? Are you the type of planner who steals the fun out of Christmas morning, because the presents must be opened at this certain time and cleaned up by that certain time, so everything can be set and ready for guests who are arriving at such and such a time. And if they’re late to Christmas dinner . . . watch out!

The good news for all the planners out there is that God actually does want us to be organized. Planning and organization enables us to be efficient, effective and generally more successful in life. 

“For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it” (Luke 14:28).

But as good as that is, what do we do when we encounter an unexpected “divine” disruption to our plans, and things go seemingly off the rails? 

What better example do we have than Mary and Joseph, and how they handled the ultimate divine disruption to their wedding plans!

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As nations around the world are facing tough economic times, people are wondering how their governments are going to address the shortages of food and fuel that are approaching critical levels in many areas. But in reality, it’s not the national GDP that most people are truly concerned about – it’s our own personal pocketbooks that are most important.

As Christians, we should remember that, regardless of events in the world, there is never any lack with our heavenly Father. The Word of God teaches that there is a separate spiritual economy based on faith and obedience, that never experiences recession. Many believers ignore this or reject it, and suffer unnecessarily!

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Contrary to popular belief, men and women are not created equal!

Now, if I left that truth there without explanation, many of you would get angry and stop reading. In today’s culture, we are all about equality, even affecting the words we use, like “humankind” instead of “mankind,” or stores offering “unisex” clothing.

Even as language changes, the truth remains: God did not create men and women “equal.” And no, that does not imply that one sex is somehow “better” than the other. That is a completely false and offensive notion. Nor am I suggesting that a person should be offered more opportunity, more money, or greater deference, solely based on their sex.

All that aside, women and men are called the “opposite sexes” for good reason: we actually are different. And in our modern society, the failure to understand these God-given differences has shaken our homelives, ruined marriages and left families in a really scary situation.

“Equality” was never God’s intention in His creation.

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“Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered.  When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, ‘It would be better for me to die than to live.’ But God said to Jonah, ‘Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?’ ‘It is,’ he said. ‘And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.’ But the Lord said, ‘You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?’” (Jonah 4:5-11).

And this is how the book of Jonah ends. Not with a “happily ever after,” rather, the story of Jonah ends with the prophet becoming frustrated, sun-scorched and throwing a pity party. 

It was probably not the greatest moment in his prophetic career. 

Jonah was a man, a prophet called by God, who ran from the assignment that God had given him. He was the ultimate backslider.

God had said to Jonah: “I want you to take My word of warning to your enemies because I will soon destroy them if they don’t repent.” But Jonah knew God was loving and merciful, and if his wicked enemies actually repented, these undeserving, knuckle-dragging enemies of Israel would get off scot-free! And what Jonah really wanted was judgment, not compassion. And so he ran.

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