Tag: discouragement

A Fine Kettle of Fish

On By Michele Huey, Author & SpeakerIn Christian livingLeave a comment

Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.—Psalm 27:14 NIV

Have you ever made a mess of things because of your impatience? You prayed and prayed, and, not getting an answer, you decide to take matters into your own hands. Or maybe it wasn’t impatience that got you into trouble, but a lack of faith, a failure to trust God, to believe that He’s got it under control, that He will really keep His promises.

You’re in good company.

Abraham, one of the Bible heroes whose amazing faith is recorded in both the Old and New Testaments, got himself into a mess on more than one occasion by taking matters into his own hands, running ahead of God, and demonstrating a serious lack of faith.

Remember when Sarah, his barren wife, talked him into sleeping with her maid Hagar so she could have a child by her? That was a fine kettle of fish. First when Hagar did indeed get pregnant by Abraham, Sarah complained that Hagar now regarded her with contempt. So Hagar was sent away, only to be rescued by El Roi—“The God Who Sees Me”—and sent back to Sarah (Genesis 16:13).

Fourteen years later Hagar was sent away again, this time with Ishmael, the son she’d borne Abraham. Once again, God rescued her in the desert, promising her that Ishmael “would become a great nation” (Genesis 21:18).

All because Abraham and Sarah couldn’t wait on God, who’d promised a son to the childless couple, who were well past parenting age. 

Then there was “The Lie”—a half-truth, really. You know what I always say: A half-truth equals a whole lie. What was the lie Abraham told? That Sarah was his sister. Well, technically she was. They shared the same father but not the same mother. Back then it was okay to marry your half-sister.

Why didn’t he want to reveal that she was his wife? Because she was beautiful, and there was a distinct possibility when they travelled through foreign territory, where the kings saw beautiful women and took them for themselves, Abraham would be killed so the local ruler could add Sarah to his harem. So Abraham said Sarah was his sister.

Not a total lie. But not the whole truth, either. He conveniently left out the part that she was his wife to save his own skin. And worse, he told her to lie, too. “This is how you can show your love to me,” he told her. “Wherever we go, say that I am your brother” (Genesis 20:13).

As a result, Sarah was taken into the king’s harem on two occasions (Genesis 12:14–20; Genesis 20). Both times God intervened and brought her out unscathed. 

So you see the great man of faith, Abraham, had his character flaws, too. He was, after all, human like the rest of us. And God’s Word doesn’t paint these heroes of faith as perfect. Instead, we see them warts and all so we can learn something from their mistakes.

What do I learn from Abraham’s messes?

That God is faithful. He doesn’t cast us off as useless or hopeless because we make the mistake of running ahead of Him, taking matters into our own hands, and making a mess of things. “If we are faithless, He remains faithful [true to His word and His righteous character], for He cannot deny Himself” (1 Timothy 2:13 AMP).

I learn that God is merciful and will save us from ourselves, if only we let Him. But we do have to live with the consequences of our actions. 

I learn that His grace is sufficient and that He won’t leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5) but will walk with us and give us the strength to carry the cross of consequences.

What kettle of fish do you find yourself in?

Why not trust it to the Fisher of Men?

Lord, forgive me when I run ahead of You and muddle things up but good. Help me to listen to You and follow Your plan. Amen.

Read and meditate on Genesis 20–21.

From God, Me, & a Cup of Tea: 101 devotional readings to savor during your time with God, © 2017 Michele Huey. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

Stuck in Smithport

On By Michele Huey, Author & SpeakerIn Christian livingLeave a comment

What is that in your hand? – Exodus 4:2 (NIV)

After a year and a half of filling the pulpit for a small, local congregation, I felt adrift and useless—that I’d lost my sense of purpose. It didn’t hit me all at once. My last Sunday with what I’d come to call “my little flock” was October 28. The next two months were filled with holiday happenings and a challenging writing course. 

Then the holidays were over and the schedule settled down. Snow swirled outside and the sun, along with my writing muse, disappeared for days on end. The weather was too inclement to walk outside and too unpredictable to plan shopping trips to town. Even my bi-weekly Bible study was postponed until spring. I felt stuck in Smithport. The only phone calls were my daughter’s weekly updates on Sunday evenings and requests: requests from the church’s prayer chain, requests to babysit the grandkids, and requests for milk, eggs, sugar, tomato paste, or whatever my sweet son and daughter-in-law didn’t have for the recipe they were making. By the time my husband, who worked 11-hours days, and I had supper, spent a little time together over tea and cleaned up the kitchen, not much was left of the evening or my energy. After my shower I watched NCIS reruns.

Reruns. That’s what my life felt like. Until God gave me a Gibbs-like smack on the head. 

I was reading Exodus 3 about when God called Moses from leading sheep to leading His people. Moses had spent 40 years in Midian on a quiet mountainside after 40 years as a prince of Egypt. Talk about feeling put on a shelf! 

“What is that in your hand?” God asked him. 

“A staff,” Moses replied.

“Throw it on the ground,” God told him.

And so he did, and it turned into a snake. When God told Moses to pick it up again, and he obeyed, it turned back into a shepherd’s staff. We all know the story: how Moses led the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt to the borders of the Promised Land. 

But Moses had to first acknowledge what he already had and then let God use it for His purpose.

“What is that in your hand?” God asks me.

And I think about all that my hands touch each day: food, dishes, laundry, a keyboard, writing lesson books, a vacuum cleaner, the phone, my grandchildren’s coats and shoes when they come for a visit, Scrabble tiles and jigsaw puzzle pieces, a pencil for a game of Boggle or Yahtzee!

And I realize I can’t see the trees for the forest. I’m too busy searching “out there” in the big, wide world for my purpose, but it’s right in front of me: taking care of my husband, being available for my children and grandchildren, praying for others’ needs, proofreading my daughter’s papers as she works towards her master’s degree, mentoring student writers through Christian Writers Guild, reaching out to those who read my weekly column and blogs, working to improve the talent God gave me. 

What’s in my hand? 

God’s purpose for me. Not “out there,” “someday,” but here and now. 

Forgive me, Lord, for treating as unimportant what You have put in my hand. Amen.

Read and reflect on Exodus 3–4.

From God, Me, & a Cup of Tea: 101 devotional readings to savor during your time with God © 2017 Michele Huey. All rights reserved.