Good Comforting - Martin Wiles

I have heard all this before. What miserable comforters you are! Job 16:2 NLT

Regardless of where she went, she couldn’t find comfort.

Leah and her husband were never apart. They even volunteered at the same place after they retired. Both appeared to be in good health, so you can imagine Leah’s shock when her husband dropped dead. Jeff was outside cutting grass. He had no recent health concerns. But when Leah saw him stumble into the doorway and say he wasn’t feeling well, she could see something wasn’t right. Within a few minutes, he had slumped over, never to recover.

Although months have passed since Jeff’s death, Leah still mourns and suffers from anxiety and depression. She has been to counselors, pastors, and friends, but nothing seems to soothe her pain. She can’t focus and struggles to make it through each day. She left her old church, saying she just couldn’t stand to attend without Jeff. Leah longs for lasting comfort, but can’t find it anywhere.

Job didn’t find it with his fair-weather friends either. He had lost almost everything a person could lose and still survive. What’s worse, God permitted his woes to prove to Satan that Job would maintain his loyalty to God despite extreme adversity. The only comfort Job’s friends could muster was telling him he had sinned. Confess, and things will get better was their advice. Job, however, had nothing to confess. He maintained his innocence and muddled through his pain and sorrow.

Job’s friends did what is typical. They thought they had to say something to soothe his grief—and they did. But what they said didn’t do the trick nor was it biblically sound. Telling someone God needed another angel or that you know how they feel is hollow comforting. God doesn’t take life to get angels, nor do humans become angels after death. And no two people experience the same episode in similar ways.

Presence in the midst of grief is better than words. Sharing truth from God’s Word can be comforting, but timing is critical. Sitting and listening and letting the person cry on your shoulder is better. When the time is right, they’ll ask, and then you can share words of wisdom they might need to hear. For the moment, silence is golden, and practical help is priceless.

Comforting those who grieve is tricky business. Before you speak or act, pray and ask God for direction and wisdom.

Prayer: Father, give us wisdom to know how to comfort those who are hurting with grief.

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Refined by Sorrow - Martin Wiles

Sorrow is better than laughter, for sadness has a refining influence on us. Ecclesiastes 7:3 NLT

Never had I witnessed sorrow bring such a transformation.

When times of deep sorrow strike, many choose the road of bitterness toward God. If God’s as good as you claim, why did…, they ask. And I’ve wondered the same thing when traveling roads of sorrow. Not James. I was his pastor, but he and his wife rarely attended church. Nor had I ever been to their home. Only through the grapevine did I know they had marital challenges.

Late one evening, I received a call about a wreck involving James’ wife and young son. She had swerved to avoid a deer, ran off the road, and crashed. She was banged up and in shock. Her infant son was dead.

Following the funeral and several days of intense grieving, James began attending church regularly. Actually, every time the doors opened. Soon he walked the aisle, rededicated his life to Christ, and requested baptism. He continued to grow spiritually, and within a year of the accident was serving as a deacon in the church. Sorrow had refined him.

What wise King Solomon says seems ludicrous. Who in their right mind would rather have sorrow than laughter? But his conclusion is accurate: sadness has a refining influence.

Periods of sorrow remind me I have little—if any, jurisdiction over most of what happens to me. Through hindsight, I see how I could have changed the course of some of my travels, but most of them were outside my control.

Knowing God has a determitive and permissive will helps. Some things will happen because He has determined they will while others occur because He permits them—even though they aren’t in His perfect plan. Understanding this requires faith and my admitting I can’t always understand God’s ways. They are higher than mine.

If I respond correctly, sorrow will refine my relationship with God by moving me closer to Him. Knowledge that He’s in control will replace worry and anxiety. I’ll plunge deeply into His Word and run to Him through prayer. Sorrow can also produce a greater level of perseverance and patience. After all, I have a hope unbelievers don’t.

Don’t let the sorrow that comes from living in a sinful world depress you. 

God loves you and is in control of your life events. If you let Him, He will refine you through sorrow.

Prayer: Father, when times of sorrow encroach upon our lives, help us trust You to use them as refining tools which will enable us to grow spiritually. 

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Throwback Tuesday - The Subtle Thief - Martin Wiles

The Subtle Thief

He was famous…but not for honorable reasons.

Jesse James and his brother Frank are famous for robbing banks, stagecoaches, and trains. They were likely involved in the first daylight bank robbery during peacetime in United States history at the Clay County Savings Association in Liberty, Missouri. But it was their bank robbery at Daviess County Savings Association in Gallatin, Missouri, on December 7, 1869, that tossed Jesse into the limelight with the label “outlaw.” The James’ brothers and their cousins later formed the James-Younger gang and stole from Iowa to Texas and from Kansas to West Virginia. Read more...

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Wondering Why - Martin Wiles

And Moses said to the Lord, “Why are you treating me, your servant, so harshly? Have mercy on me! What did I do to deserve the burden of all these people? Numbers 11:11 NLT

Wondering why often leaves us wondering.

I sat in the car with my daughter’s two children while my wife underwent a physical test. The three-year-old sat in the front seat with me biding his time and asking questions.

“Pop, what is this,” he asked, pointing to one knob on the radio.

“It turns the radio on and makes it louder,” I said, trying to focus on what I was doing.

“Why,” was the next question.

“I don’t know. It just does.”

“What about this button,” he asked as he pointed to a button beside the first knob.

I finally told him all the button in that general area worked the radio. My answer still didn’t’ satisfy him.

“Why?” he asked.

After playing this game for every piece associated with the dashboard and exterior mirrors, I finally said, “Pop’s tired of answering questions. I need to work.” He stopped asking questions.

I’m glad he has entered the inquisitive stage and wants to know things. But he’s soon finding out I don’t have an answer to everything he asks, and I do eventually tire of answering his “why” inquiries.

Moses wondered why in the world God had saddled him with caring for more than a million people. People who complained most of the time, couldn’t get along, had a tendency to rebel against God, and on occasion threatened to kill him. God answered his why question by giving him some help. God wanted those people in the Promised Land, and Moses was the person he chose to lead them there. He didn’t need to know why; he just needed to obey.

God’s ways and will are often a mystery He chooses not to solve in my presence. 

Perhaps in heaven, He’ll answer some of my “why” questions—but He might not. There is nothing wrong with asking God why, but I must be prepared to experience silence. While God never tires of my asking why, He doesn’t want my why’s to come from disbelief or discouragement but from a desire for more understanding—like Moses.

Don’t be afraid to ask God why, but be prepared to be kept in suspense. Following His will is a faith journey with many unanswered why’s.

Prayer: Father, when You chose not to answer our why questions, give us the faith and courage to keep following You. 

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To Help or Not - Martin Wiles

Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it! Hebrews 13:2 NLT

To help or not to help, that was the question.

He stood on a busy intersection, holding a sign we couldn’t read. Though the town where we live is modest in size, we see more homeless and indigent people standing on corners in and around our local restaurants and retailers.

As we pulled from one parking lot after our meal, my wife and I strained our necks but couldn’t read his sign. After visiting the pharmacy to pick up medicine, we passed the man again on our way home.

“I’m gonna circle around to see what the sign says,” my wife remarked.

I was glad. Of late, we’ve been paying it forward. Perhaps this was another opportunity. We neared the gentleman, but noticed he didn’t look like other people we’d seen requesting help.

The man’s sign read, “Trying desperately to help my family. Waiting on my disability check.” He didn’t appear disabled, but then again, many who are don’t. We pulled to the stop sign next to him. My wife said nothing.

“What do you think?” I finally asked.

“I don’t feel the tug,” she said. And we drove on.

God places opportunities in our path on a regular basis. 

More if we’ll ask Him too. But I can’t take advantage of every good opportunity, nor does God expect me to. I’m not a wealthy man. Even Jesus, with all of heaven’s riches at His disposal, didn’t heal every sickness or meet the needs of every person who wanted His help. There were times when He left the crowds to pray to His heavenly Father or to move to another region.

Knowing which helping opportunity God wants me to take advantage of takes much prayer. This helps me look and listen with spiritual eyes and ears. I must ask God to send the opportunities, but I must also ask Him to let me see them. Busyness and selfishness will cause me to miss them.

The tug my wife mentioned is what we refer to as God’s Spirit. We both feel it when it’s an opportunity God wants us to take. It’s an overwhelming pressure to intervene—a feeling of guilt when we let the opportunity slip by.

Ask God to show you the situations where He wants you to intervene. You can’t do it all, but you can do something.

Prayer: Father, guide us to those people and situations where You want us to help. 

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Flashback Friday - Storm Promises - Martin Wiles

Storm Promises

Like the weather, life changes abruptly…and it did for hundreds on Monday, May 20, 2013. 

At three in the afternoon, a massive EF5 tornado packing 200 mph winds spent 40 minutes on the ground in and around Monroe, Oklahoma, traveled 17 miles, and leveled 13,000 homes, several schools, and a hospital. Twenty four people were killed, and two billion dollars in damage was done. Read more...

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Fear Not - Martin Wiles

The Lord is my light and my salvation—so why should I be afraid? The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble? Psalm 27:1 NLT

I dropped the pans on the floor and was rewarded with a loud scream.

When our son was an infant, I was concerned his hearing had been affected by ear infections. Rather than take him to the pediatrician, I decided to perform a home test. As my wife sat at the kitchen table with him cuddled in her arms, I dropped a heavy pan. His screams reassured us his hearing was okay.

Humans are born with two innate fears: falling and loud noises. I saw the second in my son; I witnessed the first in my grandson. After he started walking, I noticed he hesitated when approaching a ledge or when he got too close to the edge of a chair or the couch. I didn’t have to say, “Watch out, you’ll fall.” He naturally knew something was different.

I’m sure David was frightened by many things, but he had the sense to know he shouldn’t be. God saved him from lions, bears, enemies, and a jealous king. He gave light to his path and was like a protective wall.

If I was only born with two fears, I’ve accumulated a ton more: fear of those who can harm me physically, fear of financial failure, fear of relationship demise, fear of not being loved, fear of emotional abuse, fear of unemployment, fear of depleted retirement savings. 

But I’m reminded of what Paul told Timothy: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV).

Fears seem to come naturally in my human experience, but if I’m only created with two, they shouldn’t. As with David, experience should teach me I can depend on God for salvation and protection. He has saved me from the greatest fear I could ever have: having to spend an eternity apart from Him to pay for my sins. Even if my life is taken by others, my soul is secure.

I can also depend on Him to guard my steps daily. I may incur sicknesses—even life-threatening diseases, but He provides ultimate protection. Since the imperishable part of me is safe in His arms, I can live without fearing the other things that assault me during my life’s journey.

Don’t live with a spirit of fear when God says, “Fear not.”

Prayer: Father, we thank You for allowing us to live life fear free. 

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Sin Sick - Martin Wiles

No, it’s because of your wickedness! There’s no limit to your sins. Job 22:5 NLT

“Have you anointed her and prayed for her healing?”

My wife suffers from various physical ailments—too many, in fact, for her young age. She has undergone numerous surgeries to remove tumors that could have turned deadly. Then came surgeries to repair hernias, remove a gall bladder, take off planter’s warts, and repair carpal tunnel. She still needs to have herniated disks in her back and neck repaired. To top off these issues, she suffers from fibromyalgia, degenerative arthritis, and neuropathy. Every trip to the doctor seems to entail another medicine or a further diagnosis.

Had Michelle lived in Job’s time, there would have been any number of good church folks who would be telling her she sinned. Though a righteous man—declared so by God and himself, Job was accused by several fair-weather friends of having sinned against God. Why else would he be afflicted by boils and have lost most of his family and possessions? Even his wife told him to curse God so he could die and get his miserable life over with.

Job maintained his innocence, and at the end of the story God corroborated his testimony. Sickness is the bane of living in a world tainted by sin. The world God originally created was free from sickness—and all of the other results of sin, and the new world He will create at the end of time will be identical.

While sickness came when sin entered the world, all sickness is not the result of individual sins. 

If this were true, my wife would be one of the greatest sinners in the world—when in fact she is quite saintly. God can and does use sickness as a means of disciplining or punishing those who revel in willful sin, but having a cold doesn’t necessarily mean I’ve committed a particular sin.

When my pastor friend asked if I had anointed and prayed for my wife, my answer was yes. But she hasn’t been healed. Just as sickness is not always the result of sin, so God doesn’t always choose to heal our sicknesses when we ask. He is sovereign. I must trust His plan.

If you’re sick, examine your spiritual life. 

If it’s in order, pray for healing, but leave the results to an all-wise God.

Prayer: Father, we entrust our health related matters to you. If sin is the cause, convict us. If it’s not, then give us courage to trust You and endure. 

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