SUNNY SKIES AND STORMY SEAS #3

"Let the sea roar, and all its fullness." I Chronicles 16:32

Life is tough! Kaye and I are laying on the deck of our friend’s Cape Cod Bay condominium, relaxing, reading and generally doing nothing. At the graciousness of friends we get to do this two weeks every year around Labor Day. If it wasn’t so far from home, I think I would move here.

We love to stand on the deck and watch the tide move in and out, and marvel at the changes. And the weather is changeable here. One minute you have sunny skies, then suddenly the wind whips up, the skies turn leaden and the waves, suddenly angry at the shore, beat it viciously. And we love it.

But the changes in the weather serve as a metaphor for our lives—and we don’t love that. The Bible often uses nature as a metaphor for life. We are to learn from the ant, the birds, and the flowers—every part, however small, of God’s creation preaches to us.

And as the weather changes, so does our life and its circumstances. One minute we’re walking under sunny skies, the next we’re being tossed on stormy seas, struggling to keep our head above water, fearing that the next wave will swamp us and we’ll be dragged to the bottom. Job is a good example: one day he’s sitting on the city council and the next day he’s squatting on the city dump.

These changes are often sudden and without warning. Our friend has a fancy thing hanging on the wall with four dials. It’s attached to some gadget on the roof that goes round and round (notice the absence of technical terms). The dials forecast a change in the weather, the temperature, the strength and direction of the winds and the times of the tide. So we have some warning when the weather is going to change. Wish I had one of those gadgets that would forecast the changes in my life. Maybe it’s different with you, but I’ve never had God whisper in my ear one morning, "Watch out, Dunn, it’s a bad day you’ve awakened to."

Of course, it is God who controls the changes in the weather. According to Job, God "tilts the waterskins of heaven" and pours our rain on a parched and dust-hardened earth. Likewise God controls the changes in my life. Psalm 57:2 is fast becoming one of my favorite verses: "I will cry out to God Most High, to God who performs all things for me." One ancient translation reads, "the transactor of my affairs." I like that. And it ought to be enough to one who trusts in the Lord to know that, however stormy the seas, He is the transactor of my affairs.

Hey, the sun just came out. It’s been overcast all morning, but suddenly the skies are sunny. I must end this and get out on the deck. But the weather always changes, both in nature and in life. Changes change. It will not always be stormy. The sun will break through eventually.

STORMY SEAS AND STORMY SPIRITS #2

In a few days Kaye and I will be leaving for our annual vacation on Cape Cod, and so we’ve been keeping track of the hurricanes on the East Coast. Watching the reports on TV, I’ve been reminded again how violent nature can be. A lot of people like to ride out those things but when I see pictures of the angry waves swallowing everything in their path, I say, "No way!"

But those seas are no stormier than the spirits of most people. I encounter them everywhere—disquieted hearts and murmuring mouths. Even Christians shipwreck themselves on the rocks of discontent during stormy circumstances. What a contrast to the great apostle Paul, who declared, "I have learned to be content in whatsoever state I am" (Philippines 4:11). Or as the NIV says, "for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances." And Paul’s circumstances were not conducive to contentment—illegally imprisoned, unfairly judged, betrayed by colleagues and facing possible execution.

To be honest many Christians behave like heathens when some disquieting situation plunges into their lives, destroying their illusions of immunity and disturbing the false belief that Christianity is all honey, no bees, no work all ease, sailing into heaven on calm and shiny seas.

Paul’s statement is made in anticipation of what the Philippians Christians might think about his situation. In the previous verses, he has told them how thankful he is that their concern for him has been renewed. Not that they weren’t always concerned, but they lacked opportunity to show it. But less they think he was uptight about it, he says, "I am not saying this because I am in need." In other words, Paul wasn’t hovering over the mailbox, wringing his hands.

"I have LEARNED to be content, he says. He didn’t say, "I have heard that in every state I ought to be content." "I have LEARNED." Christians hear much but learn little.

He tells us how he learned it in the following verses—by being full and by being empty, by having everything and having nothing. He learned that having everything did not enhance him and that having nothing did not diminish him. Unlike so many of us his contentment wasn’t conditioned by circumstances. He had learned to live independent of earthly conditions.

The SECRET: "I can do everything through him who gives me strength" (vs. 13). The Revised English Bible reads, "I am able to face anything through him who gives me strength." I AM ABLE TO FACE ANYTHING BECAUSE CHRIST INDWELLS ME AND INFUSES ME WITH STRENGTH TO FACE WHATEVER LIFE MAY THROW AT ME!

Simply stated, Paul had learned to live from the inside out. What was in him was greater than anything outside him. Our anxiety takes the work out of His hand and forces the focus of our heart off better things. And while we’re fretting about how we are going to live, we forget how to die. Which is another story.

IT’S CHARACTER, STUPID #1

The Economy in Sodom and Gomorrah was in great shape. That’s why Lot lived there. Oh sure, the place was a filthy swamp of immorality, but that stuff is personal and private and really has nothing to do with the government of cities and nations.

The people of Sodom were not concerned about Paula Jones; they were concerned about Dow Jones. And if anyone should complain about the mushrooming immorality in the cities of the plains, Geraldo would simply say, "Get over it."

And everyone did—except God, who said that righteousness exalts a people but sin is a reproach to any nation. Any when the outcry against Sodom became so great and their sin became so grievous, God rained fire and brimstone upon the twin cities of shame. I doubt seriously that anyone said, as the hellish brimstone licked at their bodies, "It’s the economy, stupid."

We consider far too little God’s providence over nations. He builds one up and puts another down. Through Moses, He reminded the people that it was God who gave them power to get wealth. Why that reminder? Because, it has always been so that when a people prosper, they have a tendency to forget God and His laws.

God did not hesitate to destroy Jerusalem because of its sin. In Micah 3, after pointing out the continued wrongdoing of the secular and spiritual leaders of the nation, the prophet said, "Therefore because of you [the leaders of the nation], Zion will be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, the temple hill a mound overgrown with thickets" (Micah 3:12). Are we so arrogant to think that after doing this to his own chosen people, He will wink at America’s sin and say, "Get over it?"

Character IS the issue. Between humans the highest and most sacred vow a man can make is the vow to be faithful to his wife. If that vow is so easily broken, then why should we think he will keep the lesser vows of human responsibility.

But, it seems to me, the great grief here is not the sin of our leaders, but the lack of outrage on the part of the people. This is the point of William Bennett’s latest book, THE DEATH OF OUTRAGE. The complacency with which many Americans, and some "Christian" leaders, approach this issue is symptomatic of our times. Jeremiah the prophet speaks of a people, who have been so sated by sin, they lose the ability to blush. As a country, we ought to be wearing sackcloth and ashes, mourning over the state of affairs and praying to God for mercy.

In my study of history I have noticed three things about civilizations. 1. Every one, no matter how pure its inception, has become corrupt. 2. The people are generally unaware or unconcerned about the corruption. 3. When they do become aware of it, they fail to do anything about it. It wasn’t another nation that destroyed the Roman Empire; it died of its own corruption; it wasn’t the economy that brought about the demise of the Soviet Union—the West didn’t defeat communism, it died of its own internal sickness. As has been often said, every nation that has fallen, has fallen from within.

What can we do about all this?

1. Make character the number one qualification for leadership.

2. Shape up our own lives and families with a fresh dedication to a holy God.

CHRISTIANS are the salt of the earth and the light of the land.

3. Practice 2 Chronicles 7:14: "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways. then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

LifeStyle Ministries
P.O. Box 153087
Irving, TX 75015

©Ron Dunn, 1998.