Worship As Ministry And Mission

See I have refined you, but not like silver. I have tested you in the fire
of adversity. Isaiah 48.10

Over the last couple of days, my spirit has been downcast, to put it mildly. Despair was setting in. So last night, as I was falling to sleep, I prayed asking God to give me some sense of direction, a word, something. Or just put an end to this and let me go on my way. It may not be very faithful, but it was how I felt. And in the end, God knows my heart.

So this morning, I share this with my wife during breakfast. She said I sounded like Job. Gee, thanks. And then I reach for our family devotion, because for a change we left the TV off and were all gathered at the breakfast table together. And this was the passage from Isaiah, talking about testing. Needless to say hit a little too close to home. And I wasn't sure how to react. Should I be grateful for this time of testing. "Thanks God for leading me into this wasteland period of my life?" Again, not a lot of faith in that kind of thinking. And then my wife said, "Would you rather God be in this, or not? Would you rather our circumstances not be of God?" This gave me a moments pause. Do we love God only when things go well? Do I trust only the good from God and not the bad. As the song says,

"Blessed be the name of the Lord/ He gives and takes away/ My heart will choose
to say/ Blessed be your name"

Wow. Think about that for a moment. God gives and takes away. Not a lot of prosperity gospel to be found in that. And yet do you know where this phrase comes from. It's biblical. Check out Job 1.21:

"The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."

And so, God's response to my cry for help at midnight, is to speak a word. This is a time of refining. But God's refining comes through the testing of adversity. Not pleasant. Not in the least. But I trust in God with all my heart. And my prayer each night is for more of Him. It's the only way I know to make it through. I may not walk each day in faithfulness, but as a friend reminded me today, we are holy and righteous not because of our faithfulness, not because of our self-imputed holiness. We are holy and righteous by of the blood of Christ Jesus. The very same one who is called Faithful and True. And if He is willing to die that I might have life, I'm willing to trust another day that He has my best interest at heart. He created me, He sustains me, and He alone knows what is best for me. In this season of testing, my faithfulness is to trust in what I cannot see. My faithfulness is to not listen to the bad advice of the world. Even Job's well intended friends were off base. It is the lone voice of the Shepherd I want to hear calling my name.

And if all this were not enough, how is this for divine love. The Lord has opened up two opportunities in January for me to teach workshops in two local churches on prayer. Saturday will be a workshop on prayer entitled "Intimacy With God Through Enjoyable Prayer." And then I will preach Sunday in worship. He opened up those opportunities today. Even in a season of refining, He is a good, good Father.

Blessed be the name of the Lord.