{"id":5958,"date":"2016-09-07T12:41:08","date_gmt":"2016-09-07T20:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/?p=5958"},"modified":"2016-09-07T12:41:08","modified_gmt":"2016-09-07T20:41:08","slug":"word-grace-september-7-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/word-grace-september-7-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"A Word of Grace – September 7, 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear Friends,<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nI share with you today one of those Scriptures which illumines how God will use even those things we despise and fear to help us move forward in his will.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nThe Lord said:<\/span>
\n.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice . . . And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you. I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land (Ex 23:20-21,28-30).<\/i><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Convicted in heart and soul, you answer God’s call to some new place and task of service. You faithfully respond with alacrity and zeal. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nThen the challenges appear. Your path of advance may stir up a hornets’ nest. You may come up against a whole new set of enemies who prove intractable. You may be overwhelmed by the sheer scope of the mission and its dangers. The question, “Now what, Lord?” rises from your daunted heart.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nFrom a dark place in your soul something like this may echo from your early teaching — “Be careful what you ask from God because he may give it to you and you won’t be able to handle it.” These are, in truth, blasphemous words of spiritual terrorism uttered by those who mistake fearful superstition for the knowledge of God. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nHere is what you need to know — our Father in heaven and his Son Jesus, who came to extend the invitation to anyone and everyone in the world to come home, never gives you anything that you can’t handle with his help. His grace is sufficient for you. His power is made perfect in your weakness (2 Cor 12:9). <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nThe Apostle Paul says it plainly: “God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Cor 10:13).<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nThe Lord may . . . no, he surely will invite you into a strange land, a place of emptiness and hunger so that you may learn that “he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things” (Ps 107:9). <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nHe will guide you through dry and parched places so that you can understand that he alone is living water and “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink” (John 7:37).<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nHe will lead you into desolate spaces and speak tenderly to you there and make the low place of your troubles a door of hope so that you may know with assurance that he will never leave you or forsake you (Hos 2:14-15; Jos 1:5; Heb 13:5).<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nYou have the Lord’s word on this and if you take one step toward him, he will lead you to the next step and the next step until you are all the way home. He knows that you are fragile and may crumble at any time so he is careful as a loving father is with his children (Ps 103:13-14). <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nHe is a step-by-step God, not a jump-off-the-cliff-for-me trickster. He will take you through ordinary places, icy alpine summits, hot desert sinks, and the meanest of streets so that you may know in every circumstance that he is <\/span>your <\/i><\/span>God and there is no other (Isa 45:5-7).<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nBefore you lies the frontier of his calling. Are there enemies ahead? Of course. They are hostile and will destroy you if they can.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nOur text tells us that the Lord has squadrons of hornets in the air seeking out the enemy still out of your sight because he knows that you need help way before you realize you are facing trouble. God will not let the enemy deny you the inheritance he has given you in love. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nHe may not give your inheritance to you all at once. Others may be occupying the place that he has given you and wild beasts may maraud there. You have neither the wisdom nor the strength to deal with all of that now. But he sends the hornets before you.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nMaybe not this year or the next, but slowly and surely the land will be cleared, crops will be planted for your sustenance, the threats of your enemies will subside until nothing will disturb your rest in his care.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nIn all of this, the Lord is good. He is on your side and you need not fear (Ps 118:5). He gives you just what you need, not more because you might be complacent and self-satisfied, and not less because you might walk away from him in desperation (Pr 30:9). <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nHe is <\/span>the God of enough<\/i><\/span>! If you want more than he is giving you, or something different than what he is calling you to do, you must ask yourself, “What is it to which my heart clings that prevents me from trusting the instruction and provision of my God?”<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nWhatever that cumbersome idol may be, give it to God. Ask him to wrest it from your grasping hands and locked soul, if you cannot part with it yourself. Take delight in each step of the way with him whose word is a lamp to your feet and a light to your path and you will find the journey neither dull nor dark as he calibrates the desires of your heart to match his own (Ps 37:4; Ps 119:105).<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nYou were not wrong when you started out in his direction. He has a purpose and a plan for your life and he will not leave it unfinished (Ps 138:8). All things–from stinging hornets to the passage of time as the threats recede and you grow stronger and more capable in him–all things are used of him “for the good of those who love him, who are called according to his purpose”\u00a0 (Rom 8:28) You are so loved and called and he sends hornets before you to clear your way.\u00a0 <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n“O taste and see that the Lord is good. Happy are those who take refuge in him” (Ps 34:8).<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nUnder the mercy of Christ,<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nKent<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2013<\/p>\n

Please note that the content and viewpoints of Mr. Hansen are his own and are not necessarily those of the C.S. Lewis Foundation. We have not edited his writing in any substantial way and have permission from him to post his content.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2013<\/p>\n

\"KentKent Hansen is a Christian attorney, author and speaker. He practices corporate law and is the managing attorney of the firm of Clayson, Mann, Yaeger & Hansen in Corona, California. Kent also serves as the general counsel of Loma Linda University and Medical Center in Loma Linda, California.<\/p>\n

Finding God\u2019s grace revealed in the ordinary experiences of life, spiritual renewal in Christ and prayer are Kent\u2019s passions. He has written two books,\u00a0Grace at 30,000 Feet and Other Unexpected Places<\/em> published by Review & Herald in 2002 and\u00a0Cleansing Fire, Healing Streams: Experiencing God\u2019s Love Through Prayer<\/em>, published by Pacific Press in spring 2007. Many of his stories and essays about God\u2019s encompassing love have been published in magazines and journals. Kent is often found on the hiking trails of the southern California mountains, following major league baseball, playing the piano or writing his weekly email devotional, \u201cA Word of Grace for Your Monday\u201d that is read by men and women from Alaska to Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Friends, I share with you today one of those Scriptures which illumines how God will use even those things we despise and fear to help us move forward in his will. The Lord said: . 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