Archive for January, 2011

God Can Use Even Atheists

Thursday, January 27th, 2011

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

Jeremiah 29:13

Igor was avidly researching religion, searching for answers he could not find in communism. One day he went to the university’s library and asked to borrow a Bible. “We don’t have such a book here, young man,” the librarian told him. “During the Great Patriotic War we had a few, but since then they have all been burned.”

Igor didn’t believe that story. Either it was forbidden to give a Bible to someone, or the KGB had taken them all away. So he began to read atheistic books, the ones officially sanctioned by the state, hoping to find scientific arguments supporting atheism.

He never found any.

Some authors quoted a verse from the Psalms, saying, “See, even the Bible says there is no God.” But in another book Igor found that entire verse quoted and read “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” Not at all the same as denying God’s existence! Instead of presenting concrete proof against God, all they wrote were sarcastic, unfounded accusations. For example: “If someone asks you for your tunic, you should give your cloak as well. Fine. Does that mean if someone asks you for your shirt you should give your underwear? The Bible is teaching that you should run around naked!” None of their arguments directly addressed the question: does God exist?

In the end those writers give Igor the answers he was looking for. By quoting so much of the Bible in their works, they gave him large portions of the Bible to read. After reading the quoted verses in context, he realized the Bible proved the atheists’ argument to be wrong. He began to wonder. If God is just a fairy tale, why is every Soviet university student required to take a course on atheism, and why is there a government Department of Atheism just to convince people that God does not exist? It seemed to Igor if it was true that God doesn’t exist, there shouldn’t have to be all these activities to persuade everyone.

The more Igor read of the Bible, the more it impressed him with its beauty and power, as opposed to the weak arguments of its atheist critics. He no longer had any doubts; it was time to act. Kneeling, he confessed his sins, asking God for forgiveness and for help in starting a new life.

God can use even the writings of atheists to bring a seeking soul into His Kingdom.

Lord, help me trust that you are always at work and that if I seek You, I will find You.

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Unintended Consequences of a Dropped Cell Phone

Monday, January 24th, 2011

It must have seemed like a good idea at the time. She stretched her arm out, cell phone in hand, lined up the shot…and dropped the phone. Right into the path of the crocodile.

A strange object fell into the water. Must be something for lunch.

So the crocodile ate the cell phone. The phone’s owner could only get the zoo personnel to believe her when she called the phone and they could hear it ringing.

It’s amazing it still works. What is not so amazing is the crocodile now has a stomach ache and will most likely face surgery. If only he’d been a little more picky about what he ate.

If only the woman in search of a dramatic shot had a better grip.

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Which Life to Choose?

Thursday, January 20th, 2011

Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve.

Joshua 24:15

Stumbling home at one in the morning after an evening drinking with his buddies, Viktor opened the locked front door with a thin knife. Freezing like a startled animal sensing danger, one hand still grasping the doorknob, in the moonlight he saw his parents waiting for him in the kitchen. “Sit down, Vitya,” his father said.

Viktor sat down at the table, across from his mother. The full moon shone through the kitchen window, glaring at him like an accusing eye. Papa fixed his gaze on him and said, “We are not going to punish you anymore. You must choose the path of your life. Now that you have finished school, you are old enough to decide for yourself. At your age I was already preaching, and had decided these eternal questions for myself.”

Viktor hadn’t rejected the faith, and didn’t plan on it. The pleasures of the world attracted him, and he wanted to have both. “Let’s look at our neighbors on the street and see how they have decided for themselves. Who do you want to be like?”

Papa brought up at least twenty examples. This one was in prison; that one a slave to alcohol. Others were drifting aimlessly. Viktor’s parents made it clear to him that he needed to consider the neighbors and his own family, and consider the results of the lives they were leading. Then he would need to choose. “Look around you, look at our family, and decide,” his father told him.

We all have this choice to make. Sometimes, like Viktor, I look at that things of this world and yearn for them, wondering if choosing to live for God was the better choice. But like Viktor, when I consider the fruit of the lives of those who chose to pursue wealth or popularity or anything other than God, I can see which life yield sour or bitter fruit, and which produces sweet fruit that lasts for eternity.

Lord, help me to always choose to serve you.

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After the bad news, the Good News

Tuesday, January 18th, 2011

A year ago an earthquake rocked Haiti, devastating a country hopelessly stuck in poverty. Everyone who survived suffered some kind of loss, whether death or injury of family members, loss of home or business.

But the 35 second earthquake also shook Haiti spiritually. Many have turned to the church, recognizing that their only hope is in Jesus. Even many voodoo worshipers have renounced their idols and have confessed Christ as Lord.

The bad news in Haiti was followed by the good news that the real good news, the gospel of Jesus Christ, is spreading through the country and changing lives.

Out of destruction, God is bringing good. Who knows what He will do in Haiti over the next months and years, and how the spiritual revival will change Haitian society. One thing is sure, that God will use all things to further His kingdom.

Something to remember when it seems that all the news is bad.

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Living in the Light

Friday, January 14th, 2011

In your light we see light.

Psalm 36:9

“I am shamed to be married to a traitor to the Soviet Union, a betrayer of the homeland. I am humiliated to have an Anti-Soviet as the father of my children, and no longer want to consider myself married.”

Many men in prison camps received such letters. “It was difficult to remain joyful in such pain,” one man said. “We didn’t know if those letters were true or if our wives were forced into writing them, threatened with prison and the thought of our children being taken away, to be raised as atheists. But we trusted God, and He was faithful to us.”

Before going to prison, these men had accepted that any dreams they had for education or a comfortable life were never going to come true. In the communist state, the best that believers could hope for was the life of a poor laborer or farm worker. After being sent off to the labor camps, these men had to give up even their modest desires, such as living quiet lives with their wives and children.

While in prison, their faith was tempered like steel. They overcame their anger at the injustice, and instead, did the only thing they could: seek God. He answered, changing their hearts so that they could rejoice in their circumstances and learn to forgive their captors and any others who tormented them.

I read of these men, and am humbled. How would I face up to a detour in my life that changed my course for months or years? I often melt down when faced with a minor traffic delay that throws my schedule by a matter of minutes. Bigger problems throw my plans into confusion and I feel lost and angry, trying to find my way, wondering just what God is doing to me.

The answer, of course, is found in seeking God. When I look at the events in my life with my own light, all I see is darkness and delay. When I look at events in God’s light, the light He reveals to us through His Word, I can see glimpses of His hand at work, and enough guidance to take the next step. Maybe my plans were changed, but His never are.

Lord, help me to see the changes in my plans in your light. Not my will, but yours!

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On Snow Removal in Russia and Missouri

Tuesday, January 11th, 2011

I woke up to the sound of the neighbor running his snow blower. It’s a steady humming sound of a machine efficiently removing snow.

Quite a contrast to me, a few hours later, shoveling snow off the driveway a few hours later. The scraping sound I made with the shovel against the concrete was anything but steady or regular, and I can’t say that my shoveling was efficient.

That scraping sound brought to mind how I was often awakened in Russia-by the noise of Yuri, the man who took care of the courtyard behind my apartment building, faithfully removing the top layer of snow from the built up ice below. Yuri had a brain tumor, so his walk was unsteady and his work was uneven. But every winter morning, there he was, patiently doing his best to clear the snow.

An interesting contrast. In Missouri, where we don’t often get snow, and usually not much, and what we get usually melts in a week, many people use machines to remove the snow. In Russia, where snowfall is a daily occurrence, and what falls usually doesn’t melt until spring, people who can get no other work are employed for the task.

I’m not sure what this says about our respective countries. Any thoughts?

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The Root of my Discontent

Thursday, January 6th, 2011

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

Philippians 4:12

Throughout his life, Alexei Brynza tried to be faithful to God and to have a tender heart toward everyone, including those who would be his enemies. He constantly gave thanks to God, utterly convinced that “the boundary lines have fallen for [him] in pleasant places; [and that surely he had] a delightful inheritance.” Like the apostle Paul, he had found the secret of being content in all circumstances, whether plenty or want, freedom or persecution.

I’ve been considering some situations where God has done an amazing work, has answered prayers in a mighty way, without me doing anything. Certainly this is cause for rejoicing. And while the situations are not fully resolved, I am assured that I can trust God to complete the work.

But there is a lingering discontent, a wanting more. I don’t feel well-fed; I don’t consider myself as living in plenty. Something is missing.

Sometimes slow on the uptake, I can see now that my discontent is that I got no glory. No one thanked me for my service; no one acknowledged how I handled a difficult situation. No one noticed me at all.

So I am dissatisfied. And here is the problem. Do I really mean it when I pray “not to us, but to you be the glory?” The reality is that God doesn’t need me to accomplish His purposes. He does allow me to participate in His work. But while I am conscious of my own contribution, I can’t always see God at work. Suddenly there is a result, and I’m not sure how it happened.

And that’s how it was for Alexei Brynza. He humbly served God for decades, trusting that his Lord would have the victory over his persecutors. He didn’t know how, he didn’t know when, but faithfully did the task given to him, content in the knowledge that it was God who would bring fruit from his labors. And suddenly in 1991, the Soviet Union fell. God’s hand was at work all along, and to Him be the glory for this great triumph.

Not to me, Lord, but to You be all the glory!

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