Message for Tuesday, March 11 - Trusting God Trusting God in a Season of Perceived Injustice! by James McDonald Psalm 37 is for you if you’ve ever thought that an injustice was imposed on you. It is perceived justice since God said He is a Just God and will take vengeance against evil doers. Psalm 37: 1; “Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong.” Why not? Because of verse 2: “for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.” What should I do? Verse 3: “Trust in the Lord and do good.” It will get you to a better place. When people are frustrated by the actions of others, even Christians, we can think of some pretty nasty things to do. More from verse 3; “Dwell in the land.” In other words - stay put! The best place to be is in the center of God’s will. Maybe it means stay in your job, marriage, . . . Keep doing right even when it’s costing you more to do right. It is better to struggle within God’s will than to appear to have smooth sailing outside of God’s will. Feed on Faithfulness, make it your satisfaction. “I’m not going to falter.” Make faithfulness your goal. Verse 4: “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Meditate on a portion of scripture until it comes your portion of scripture. You do that by prayer, fellowship with other Christians, worship, . . . You will start to desire different stuff, the things that will really satisfy you. A lot of people spend their life pursuing the wrong stuff. 37: 5; “Commit your way to the Lord.” When you can’t go on, when you fear taking another step, commit your way to the Lord. 37: 5: “Trust in Him and he will do this, He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.” We don’t know when but we do know He will do this. If God said “I will work things out by June 1st, we wouldn’t pray much between now and June 1st. God knows what He’s doing. You will be vindicated. The only thing He didn’t tell you was when. The key, verse 7: “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. Don’t fret, it only leads to evil.” Don’t worry about the one who seems to be getting away with anything. They aren’t getting away with it. Be at peace without apparent resolution. John Piper says; “Stay away from statistical tables and trust in the Lord. The main reading of the rest of Psalm 37: Trust - Wait! 9; “For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land. A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found. But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace.” 12: “The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them. But the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows their day is coming.” It’s like you are being bullied at school. One day, a big friend comes walking with you up to the bully. The bully isn’t so tough then. If God is for us, who can be against us! 14-15: “The wicked draw the sword. But their swords will pierce their own hearts.” 16-17: “Better the little that the righteous have than the wealth of many wicked for the power of the wicked will be broken, but the Lord upholds the righteous.” Have you ever said about someone going through a tough time; “I don’t know how they do it.” Now you know, the Lord upholds the righteous. 25: King David (the writer of Psalm 37); “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken.” The problem is it is hard to put trust and wait together. Trusting without waiting is striving. When you’ve done what you can do, at that point you just need to trust. Sometimes I’ve done the waiting without trusting. Waiting without trusting is worrying. Be anxious for nothing. Trusting and waiting have to go together. Without it, there’s no rest! The Fruit of the Spirit How do you know someone is a Christian? You look for the Fruit of the Spirit in them as the apostle Paul describes in Galatians 5: 22-23; “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” From a Willow Creek Service by Mike Breaux on the #7 Fruit of the Spirit Faithfulness To live with faithfulness is the only way to live. Trust God enough to take risks. If you want to live life at its best, you need to cultivate faithfulness. Solomon in Ch. 20 of Proverbs said; “it is tough to find someone faithful.” If we hook up in an apprentice relationship with God, we too can be faithful. You can’t take a faithfulness pill, it’s rooted from the inside out. It is rooted in the faithfulness of a God who loves us enough to move inside of us. How does faithfulness play out in our lives . . . Persisting even when you want to quit. Ask a pro athlete if they feel like working out - They will tell you “nope”. They persist even when they don’t feel like it. Our society says; “Don’t do it if you don’t feel like it, if it takes too much time and effort. Spirit-led people live by their commitments, not their emotions; “I’m going to whether I feel like it or not.” When I don’t feel like it, that’s usually when I need to do it; pray, serve, read the Bible, . . . If the only time I do something is when I feel like it, Satan makes sure I never feel like it. Successful people are ordinary people who do what the average person doesn’t feel like doing. It doesn’t happen by accident. It happens because they choose to cooperate with the holy spirit. They develop their spiritual life whether they feel like it or not. Doing the right thing even when no one is with you or cheering you on. Under pressure, your faith life is forced into the open. It shows your true colors. Don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. When you feel like quitting the Holy Spirit does his best work in you, perfecting your faithfulness. Jesus said if you would just stay faithful until death, I will give you the crown of life. Paul to Timothy; “I have fought the good fight, I’ve got the crown of life. But it’s not just me, but anyone. Let your yes be yes, your no be no. You don’t have to swear to anything.” God isn’t interested in rituals, he wants a love relationship where we trust him. Hebrews 11: 6; “It is impossible to please God without faith.” Faith - being certain of the future - even when I can’t see it. Some say “I’ll believe it when I see it”. God says; “You’ve got it all backwards. You have to believe it in order to see it”; like an engineer, an artist, . . . Hebrews 11 - the Faith Hall of Fame; Noah stepped out and obeyed even when it doesn’t make any sense. Before the flood, it had never rained. Am I going to believe God or am I going with what I think, that I know more than God? A lot of times when God tells you what to do it doesn’t make sense. God says when people hurt you, you don’t forget it, but for your sake, always forgive them. Is that easy? No, the natural thing is to get even with them, to blow them away. But with the wisdom of a loving father, God says don’t do that because resentment always hurts you in the long run. Everytime you do what God tells you to do, even if it seems crazy, God can bless your life. 2012 Olympic Wrestling Champion Jordan Burroughs (from the March 2014 FCA magazine) Cloaked in red, white and blue, Jordan Burroughs clutched the American flag and scanned the crowd looking for his mother among the sea of fans at ExCeL Exhibition Centre in London. The moment he spotted her, he jumped the barrier and raced into the crowd, embracing her in celebration. At age 24, his dream had come true: Jordan Ernest Burroughs was an Olympic gold medal winner. A flood of emotions filled him in that life-altering moment. But still, amidst the feelings of joy, accomplishment, satisfaction and euphoria came one feeling that Burroughs never expected: emptiness. In 2006, Burroughs accepted a scholarship to the University of Nebraska. His newfound freedom and success on the mat had become a distraction. “I tried to make a change in my life at that time,” he said, “but I was 17 years old and 19 hours away from home. I got caught up in the college life—girls, casually dating, parties and drinking. I was never a party animal, but I was a guy who liked to have a good time and enjoy being a young man with freedom for the first time.” Nebraska coach Mark Manning saw Burroughs as a young, raw talent. Manning, the second winningest coach in Nebraska history, began working closely with his new pupil. “When he was younger he was all concerned about rankings and who was ahead of him, what the Internet was saying,” Manning said. “Jordan would come to practice and say, ‘This website said this about me.’ To see him go from that to what he is now, I have really seen him grow.” By the end of his junior year, Burroughs had won back-to-back Big 12 titles and an NCAA championship. He was stronger and wiser on the mat and primed for his senior season; then, another setback. In a December 2009 match against Central Michigan, an opponent rolled over Burroughs’ leg. He continued for another eight minutes with tears to his lateral collateral ligament (LCL) and posterior cruciate ligament (PCL). “It was horrific,” Manning said. “I told him, ‘You’re done, Jordan,’ but he wouldn’t let me stop the match.” Burroughs eventually lost, snapping his 44-match winning streak. His season ended that day, but his career didn’t. He underwent reconstructive surgery and was off the mat for nine months. “It killed him sitting out that year, but it also drove him,” Manning said. “I saw a drive, a motivation, a recommitment to being the best.” Again, Burroughs tried to reach out to God. “I was feeling low again,” Burroughs said. “I wasn’t wrestling. I wasn’t with my team. I wasn’t the best wrestler in the country. I tried to establish some Christian friends and started going to Bible study on a weekly basis. It worked out well for a while, but it was just situational. “My faith throughout my life has come in waves. I’ve been down or thought things were taking a turn for the worse and I’d say, ‘God, I need you now. Please help me out of this place in my life.’ Then, once I got out of that place, I was like, ‘OK, I’m good now. I’m healthy. I’m happy. I’m wrestling well.’” In 2010, his redshirt-senior year at Nebraska, Burroughs returned to the mat bigger, stronger and healthy, earning a third Big 12 title, second national championship (including his second undefeated season) and the Hodge Trophy (wrestling’s Heisman trophy). He was back on the winning track. And the wave of faith again came crashing down. “I was feeling really good, so I felt there was no need for me to have Christ in my life,” he said. Fast forward to London. Everyone wanted a piece of the gold medal winner. Interviews, press conferences, autographs—this was the payoff for all the sweat, hard work and extra training. Burroughs had reached the summit. He was living his dream. He’d accomplished all his goals, and tons of people—including his parents, former coaches, friends and family in both Sicklerville and Nebraska—were proud of him. Heck, the entire country was proud of him for winning the gold. “I wanted to be an Olympic gold medalist,” Burroughs said. “I was extremely successful. I was recognizable to sports fans. I was being blown up by every wrestling fan in the community. My ego was huge. I idolized winning . I believed that all my success was due to everything I had done. I was extremely prideful.” But then it stopped, and Burroughs was left holding a medal and nothing more. “That’s it?” he remembers thinking. “I thought once I became an Olympic champion I’d feel complete; I’d feel whole. I’d be extremely happy and joyful and this would be the best time of my life.” Instead, Burroughs felt empty. After returning to the States, the glory of the gold became an Olympic-sized disappointment. Brandon Slay, 2000 Olympic gold medalist and current coach of the U.S. national team, knew exactly what Burroughs was experiencing. It was a case of “post-Everest syndrome.” “After winning the gold medal and becoming the best wrestler on the planet, a lot of athletes feel like this Everest experience is going to fulfill them,” he said. “Reaching the Everest of wrestling doesn’t fulfill you. It’s a really beautiful view on top, but you can’t stay there. In the real world, if you climb Mount Everest, you have to go back down or you’ll die from oxygen deprivation. In the athletic world it’s kind of the same. Once you reach this peak, you realize you have to go back down. “A gold medal is always going to leave you empty. We will always feel emptiness unless we have oneness with the Savior.” As Burroughs tumbled down Everest clinging to a handful of medals and trophies, he remembered something Slay told him: “He said, ‘Hold on to everything in life with an open hand.’ Whether it’s my wrestling career or the amount of money in my bank account, everything good comes from God. He’s provided me with everything I need to be content.” Two months later, in October 2012, Burroughs accepted an invitation to attend “24 Hours for God,” an FCA Wrestling Camp for high school kids in Edwardsville, Ill., where more than 60 athletes and coaches participated. “It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen,” Burroughs said. “I’ve never seen so many kids so happy and unashamed. They were less impressed with me being there and more happy that Jesus was in their presence.” The experience pricked Burroughs’ heart. “I wanted to be those guys,” he said. “I wanted to live that life. I wanted to be able to sing and praise out loud and know Christ fully and completely. Those kids opened my eyes. Instead of looking up to me, I was looking up to them. I’ve been all across the country and around the world and have met thousands of high school kids, but that was eye-opening.” In that moment, God revealed himself, and Burroughs let go of his pride. He put his trust in God and his life began to change. “In our world it’s all about accumulation; people just want to gain things,” Burroughs said. “There’s no other thing in life that’s more fulfilling than a relationship with Jesus Christ. Contentment is one of the biggest things I’ve learned, knowing that regardless of where you are in life, it’s all about being content with God’s provision.” “This guy is definitely going to be the most decorated wrestler in the history of our sport,” said Carl Perry, Executive Director for FCA Wrestling. “But there’s a humility there that is impressive. He’s got this perspective that, ‘I’m not going to be defined by a gold medal, by a world championship. I’m going to be defined by my faith.’ He is special. People are flocking to our sport who never have because of Jordan Burroughs. Because of his faith, he’s bringing awareness to the Kingdom.” “I think he’s humbly confident,” Slay said. “He believes in the gifts that God has given him. His attitude has changed, and that’s proof of someone who has become a new creation through Christ.” Perry agreed, saying Burroughs’ mindset has changed: “’My job’s the input, and God’s job is the outcome.’ I think he has that mentality. What that does is take the pressure off. There are athletes who don’t live up to their full potential because of fear of failure. I don’t see that in him. There’s a freedom in that.”
Posted on: Fri, 07 Mar 2014 16:43:23 +0000
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