Going Through, Coming Out, Preparing For - Martin Wiles

Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. 1 Peter 4:12 NLT

When a youth, I never recognized I was going through, coming out of, or preparing for.

As a young boy, gliding through the inlets of the Santee River with my maternal grandmother in her wooden boat brought joy to my summers. She loved fishing better than any man I had ever known. Many years later, she couldn’t remember my name thirty seconds after I had told her who I was. Her will to live gave up shortly after her heart gave out.

My paternal grandfather delivered ice cream to retail stores and Mom and Pop businesses. And I spent all summer at his house helping him do it. Nothing compared to riding in the old truck with the windows down and eating all the ice cream I wanted. On the sultry summer days, sticking my head in one of the back compartments to retrieve ice cream for customers provided just the cool off I needed. Years later, I watched him point upward and tell me he was going home. And not long after that day, he did.

I loved sitting on the porch with my maternal grandfather. He farmed for a living and rose early in the morning, long before the sun peaked over the pines that surrounded some of his farmland. When the first rays of light surfaced, he went to the porch to await the sun’s arrival. And if I happened to be staying with him, I went too. Ten years later, I watched as one stroke after another slowly took his life.

Somewhere along life’s journey, I learned what Peter told early believers not to do: be surprised by the trials of life. I discovered I’m either going through one, coming out of one, or preparing for one. Life has been a series of trials for me—and I’m sure more will arrive before I breathe my last breath. But not only for me. Everyone I meet can say the same.

Since we’re in this together, it only makes sense for us to have compassion for everyone we meet. They need comfort, encouragement, guidance, or caution. They are somewhere in the mix of the three stages—and will be for the remainder of their lives, just as I will.

Trials are the mix of life. As you experience yours—while leaning on God for strength—ask God to help you care for others who are on the same journey.

Prayer: Father, teach us important lessons as we go through, come out from, and prepare for life’s trials.

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God Unemployed? - Martin Wiles

O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, if you will look upon my sorrow and answer my prayer and give me a son, then I will give him back to you. 1 Samuel 1:11 NLT

Lay off. The words sent shudders throughout my body.

I was a single young man working for a local textile mill when imports threatened their existence. Many had already closed. Layoffs came regularly. Every week, I listened to the rumors—and waited for the pink slip.

One week, my fears were realized. How would I pay my bills? Where would I find work? What was the possibility of my being called back? Fortunately, a fellow church member worked at the local unemployment office. She gave me guidance, and within one week, my unemployment checks had started. But they weren’t nearly as much as my paycheck.

The reality hit hard. I now lounged among the unemployed. I had no boss, except the government, who said I had to actively seek employment to keep drawing my unemployment benefits. Fortunately, my employer called me back within a few weeks. I breathed a sigh of relief. I needed his funds to meet my monthly obligations.

Hannah needed an employer too. God. Her rival, Peninah, gave her husband children, but Hannah couldn’t bear any. She did the only wise thing she knew to do: approached the God she believed could act on her behalf and could give her the thing she wanted so passionately.

Some feel as if technology and science have eliminated the need for God—unemployed Him. People in biblical times attributed miraculous events to a supernatural God because for them this was the only logical explanation. But when scientific thought developed and was applied to various areas, it explained what was once attributed to God. God died—or became unemployed. People didn’t need him anymore.

Or so we thought. Some still do. Not me. I love science and technology. But I’m not so naïve as to believe God isn’t still involved in these developments. Who, after all, gives scientists the wisdom to discover, to develop, and then to apply their findings to various areas, which in turn make our lives more enjoyable? And, by the way, to help us as believers more rapidly grow God’s Kingdom?

Don’t ever lay God off in your life. He wants to be employed in every detail. He loves you and wants you to love Him in return. Without Him, we are only left with fate or chance—neither of which are good options.  

Tweetable: Do you feel as if God has left the job? 

Prayer: Father, we want You to always be employed in our lives.

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Throwback Tuesday - Can I Trust the Bible? - Martin Wiles

Can I Trust the Bible?

Series: Hey God…I Have a Question

I was teaching at a small private school with a very limited budget in Low country South Carolina. Many of our books often arrived from schools that had funds for updated curriculum. This scenario made teaching history challenging. While most events in history are set in stone, some of the facts I was teaching students had changed. Most notably, the breakup of the former Soviet Union. According to their books, the Empire was still intact when in reality it wasn’t. I couldn’t trust the book; it needed updating. Things had changed. Read more...

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The Right Path - Martin Wiles

There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death. Proverbs 14:12 NLT

The path seemed just right for me.

My grandmother’s house nestled itself just a short distance from my aunt’s home, both connected by a winding path well worn by an almost constant stream of foot traffic. I loved staying with my grandparents in their old farmhouse—sitting on their wrap-around porch, listening to the crickets after the sun settled in for the night. And I also loved visiting my aunt. Her youngest son trumped me by just three months.

Many were the days when I’d trudge from my grandmother’s house to my cousin’s house so we could play together. We were country boys living in a period before technology had overrun kids’ imaginations. My feet helped further wear down a path already cut deep by relatives and friends. Every time I walked the path, a smile creased my face as I thought about the fun I would soon have with my cousin or the good meal I’d eat at my grandmother’s house. He was a master of make-believe games, and she was a chef superb of low country South Carolina meals.

The path between my grandparents’ and aunt’s house was a good path, but I’ve taken some paths that weren’t. Paths that led to bad decisions … or unhealthy relationships. Paths that took me further than I wanted to go … and took me longer to get back from than I cared for.

Solomon was right. A path does exist that appears right, but it doesn’t end where we want it to. Jesus spoke of the same kind of path hundreds of years later. He called them narrow and broad paths and said most people choose the broad path—the one that leads to destruction.

The death Solomon speaks about and the destruction Jesus says the broad path leads to is spiritual death … eternal separation from a loving God who wants all people to have a relationship with Him. But traveling these paths also leads to death even while I’m living. The kind of death that brings a famine. I don’t enjoy life as God intends for me to experience.

Saying there is only one way to heaven may be politically incorrect, but that’s the message of the Bible. Believe in Jesus … or else. God has created no other way. Sin separates us from Him, but repentance brings us into a relationship with Him.

Make sure the path you’re walking leads you to God.

Prayer: Father, we thank You for making a path we can walk that leads us to You and to abundant life.

Tweetable: Are you on the right path? 

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Don’t Fear the Bad News - Martin Wiles

They do not fear bad news; they confidently trust the Lord to care for them. Psalm 112:7 NLT

The news disturbed me, but at least a friend delivered it.

The delivery came by way of voice mail. “Your wife and daughter have been in an accident, but they don’t have any life-threatening injuries.”

My heart pounded as I made the two-hour drive from where I was to the hospital. With no other details to go other than the voice mail, my mind played tricks imagining what might have happened. Fortunately, my daughter suffered nothing more than bent glasses. My wife didn’t fare so well. She broke her ankle and ended up with a cast on her leg. She also broke her wrist and had to undergo surgery.

For the next eight weeks, our lives changed. Hers because she could do nothing on her own short of holding a book or changing channels on the television with a remote. Mine as well. I had to clean the house, cook the meals, and wash the clothes. But we didn’t let fear of what might be—or what had been—destroy our peace or joy.

According to the psalmist, those who reverence the Lord will experience joy in life. Out of that joy will flow obedience to God’s commands, compassion, generosity, holy living, honesty, and success. When bad news arrives—and it will—it will not overcome them.

Bad news is only bad if the only hope I have lies in continuous pleasant circumstances. And life quickly teaches that bad news will come … sometimes often … and that circumstances won’t always be enjoyable.

Fear, however, isn’t from God because perfect love, which God has and can give to me, does away with unfounded fear.

Bad news won’t destroy when we keep our perspective that someone greater than us, God, controls the news and the circumstances that led to it. When we express our trust in Him when the bad news comes, our faith will grow. God may not be directly responsible for the circumstances that led to the bad news, but He at least allows them.

When bad news comes your way, keep your focus on the One who controls the circumstances that led to the bad news. He will bring you through.

Prayer: Father, when the news is bad, we trust You to give us the wisdom and strength to endure.

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Flashback Friday - What Is Your Plan for My Life? - Martin Wiles

What is Your Plan for My Life?

Series: Hey God…I Have a Question

At the age of nineteen, he contracted smallpox but survived. His father died when he was eleven. While on a surveying trip, his straw bedding caught fire as he slept. Fortunately, a fellow surveyor doused the blaze. He was chosen as major and district adjutant of Virginia’s colonial troops at the age of twenty-one and commissioned to deliver an ultimatum to a French commander—a duty that entailed a hazardous, wintertime, wilderness trip.

By the age of twenty-three, George Washington had survived fire, smallpox, Indian ambushes, and battles with the French. Many attributed his achievements and survival to God’s providence. Reverend Samuel Davis, a prominent Presbyterian minister, said, “I may point out to the public that heroic youth, Colonel Washington, whom I cannot but hope Providence has hitherto preserved in so signal a manner for some important service to his country.” Read more...

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Got It, Didn’t Want It - Martin Wiles

The Son of Man, on the other hand, feasts and drinks, and you say, “He’s a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of tax collectors and other sinners!” Matthew 11:19 NLT

“I want to go to big-boy school,” he said—but he really didn’t.

Our middle grandson—three at the time—thought he wanted to go to school. And he had mastered what we told him he had to before he could go: going to the potty. Now he was ready for summer to end and school to start. Until after the first day.

His visit to the room before enrolling went well. He played with the toys. I suppose he thought that was all he would do for the entire day. 

When the second day rolled around, his excitement had vanished. Instead of “I want to go to big-boy school,” he loudly proclaimed, “I don’t want to go to big-boy school.”

By the second day, he had figured out work was involved in this school thing. I dropped him off at his room and listened to him scream as I walked away. Although he soon quieted down, he was no more ready to go to school the following day than he had been the second day. He got what he wanted, but didn’t want it when he got it.

Jesus also faced a group of unsatisfied people. John the Baptist came along, living a minimalist lifestyle and preaching harshly, and they didn’t like him. Jesus followed with a party lifestyle, and they didn’t like Him either.

I suppose I could make a long list of things I thought I wanted, but things that didn’t satisfy me after I got them. Possessions and relationships might top the list. Like a child with a new toy, they satisfied only for the moment.

Learning satisfaction in all circumstances—which the apostle Paul said he had done—without destroying my initiative to be all I can for Christ isn’t the easiest task in the world. But it can be done.

When I believe God has a plan for me and is executing it, I can experience satisfaction—even though the plan may not look anything like the one I had imagined. At the same time, I’ll continue to take the initiative to move toward God’s goal for me with my best efforts, knowing I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. A delicate balance, but one Christ helps me maintain.

Don’t be satisfied with just anything. Be satisfied with what and whom God brings into your life.

Prayer: Father, help us to want only those things You want for us.

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Confess Don’t Bury - Martin Wiles

When you become aware of your guilt in any of these ways, you must confess your sin. Leviticus 5:5 NLT

She can’t help it. Burying is in his nature.

Our small Chihuahua-terrier mix is a house dog, but she still wants to do what an outside dog does with a bone. We occasionally buy her bones she can chew on for a while and that will clean her teeth. Each time I give her one, she stands in the middle of the floor and whines. Without asking, I know what she wants: “Let me outside so I can bury my bone. Don’t you know that’s what dogs do?”

When I don’t acknowledge her request, she resorts to other measures. She hides the bone inside. Perhaps between the couch cushions or under the blankets in her kennel. Maybe behind a piece of furniture. Someplace where I can’t see it, but where she knows. Days later, she may suddenly appear with the bone in her mouth. They last her a long time—but only because she hides them.

Burying is also typical human behavior. God’s people in the Old Testament did it. I’ve done it. And many other people have to. We don’t generally air our dirty laundry, especially if it’s something that happened long ago or something that might keep us from getting a job, getting a promotion, entering a relationship, or … getting closer to God.

The trouble with burying sin—in whatever form it takes—is that it messes up life. If I bury unforgiveness, anger, selfishness, guilt, or sexual immorality, they have a way of uncovering themselves in ugly psychological, social, or emotional episodes. Not only do they mess up my life, but they also mess up my relationship with others … and especially God.

Confession means to have the same mind as. So whatever God thinks about particular sins or decisions, I should think the same thing. When I confess, it shows I recognize my need for help—and from Someone who has the power to assist. I’m not perfect. I need a Savior. Everyone does.

And when I confess daily, it keeps the lines of communication open between me and God, which is important for healthy living. Confession keeps things above board while burying keeps them … well … buried.

Don’t take on animal behavior by burying what needs to come out in the open. God knows anyway. Let Him know you know by daily confessing your sins and failures to Him.

Prayer: Father, we confess that we often fail You, but we thank You that Your forgiveness is always available.

Tweetable: Are you a confessor or a buryier? 

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Throwback Tuesday - How Did the Beginning of Time Happen? - Martin Wiles

How Did the Beginning of Time Happen?

Series: Hey God…I Have a Question

Some look at nature—including the night sky--and imagine it just happened; others see these things as God’s miracle.

I never believed all the marvels of nature merely materialized through some freak processes that were controlled by an unknown source. Of course, I was reared in a Christian home and taught about a creator God who was responsible for everything’s existence. Had I been brought up in a different culture where my God wasn’t acknowledged or known, I might have arrived at different conclusions. Read more...

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Never Forgotten - Martin Wiles

Yet Jerusalem says, “The Lord has deserted us; the Lord has forgotten us.” Isaiah 49:14 NLT

How am I supposed to get my message across when others keep forgetting?

In an article entitled, “Brain Science: The Forgetting Curve–the Dirty Secret of Corporate Training,” Art Kohn shares startling statistics about forgetting. Within one hour, people forget half of what we share with them. Within twenty-four hours, they forget seventy percent, and within a week, they have forgotten ninety percent. Not fun facts when we normally want people to remember what we tell them—especially if it’s important.

While later in life forgetting may result from Alzheimer’s or dementia, forgetting during the normal brain functioning period of our lives is … well … normal. Our brains are busy with thousands of sensory inputs during any given day. The brain also has to keep out some sensory input lest it go into overload. Suppressing some information lets us focus on the more important information. The bottom line: our brains need to forget some things so we can zero in on the most important things. (http://ow.ly/bPi630lYAbx)

Israel often felt forgotten by God. Such as when they spent 400 years enslaved to foreigners in Egypt. And then later, another seventy serving the Babylonians. Although they felt as if God had left them—after all, it was their fault because they disobeyed Him—God never had. In his good time, He rescued them and took them back to their Promised Land.

I’m sure glad my brain weeds out some of the unimportant things. I’ve never forgotten God—or my love and obligations to Him—but I have experienced times when I felt as if He had forgotten me. When tough times came and I wondered why He didn’t intervene. When it seemed as if I could barely keep my head above water, but He didn’t reach down and rescue me. Or at least, not quickly enough.

Feelings and reality are different. While I may pass through periods when I feel as if God has forgotten me, He never does. That’s reality. Unconfessed sin can make me experience those feelings—and so can Satan. I have to determine which so I can take the appropriate action.

If you are God’s child, He never forgets you in life and won’t in eternity. Just as He did with Israel, in His good time, He will lead you out of your desert feelings and bring you into your Promised Land.

Remember God never forgets His children.

Prayer: Father, we rejoice in the fact that You never forget us. 

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In the Badlands - Martin Wiles

There it is! I’m making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands. Isaiah 43:19 MSG

Their name defines them.

I first heard the name on old western movies. The badlands are located in southwestern South Dakota. Badlands National Park consists of 244,000 acres along with sharply eroded buttes, pinnacles, and spires. These are blended with a mixed-grass prairie.

The Lakota people first called this place, "mako sica," which means, "land bad." And for good reasons. Found here are extreme temperatures, a sparsity of water, and rugged terrain. In the early 1900s, the French-Canadian fur trappers called it "les mauvais terres pour traverse," or "bad lands to travel through."

Israel had a habit of wandering in the badlands—places they should have avoided. Sometimes, God put them there because of their disobedience—such as when He put them in Babylon seventy years. Now, they had learned their lesson, and God planned to remove them from the badlands and return them to the Promised Land.

Jesus once faced badlands Himself—the wilderness. For forty days, Satan tempted Him in that bad land, but Jesus knew how to get out. 

I’ve spent more time than I care to remember in badlands. Sometimes, the journey was short; sometimes it seemed as if it would never end. Sometimes, I put myself there; sometimes, others put me there. Not untypical in the badlands are financial struggles, emotional burnout, depression, and disappointment.

God made a way for Israel, and Jesus—while in the wilderness—gives a good pattern of how to make it out of the badlands.

When in the badlands, turn to God’s Word. Jesus used it with each of Satan’s attacks, and every time the enemy fled and the Spirit comforted Jesus.

Remembering our position gives energy when in the badlands. As God’s child, nothing can touch us that God doesn’t first filter through His loving hands.

We can also claim our authority when in the badlands. We belong to God, and, with His power, have the power to defeat our arch-enemy who would like nothing better than to put and to keep us in the badlands.

Because we belong to God, we can anticipate victory when we find ourselves in the badlands. God will not leave us there—regardless of the circumstances or people who put us there. A road out exists, and God will lead us down it to freedom.

When in the badlands, look to God. He’ll sustain you while you’re there and deliver you in His good time.

Prayer: Father, we thank You for leading us out of the badlands. But while we’re there, we look to You for important lessons.

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Flashback Friday - What Is the Cure for Every Sickness? - Martin Wiles

What Is the Cure for Every Sickness?

Series: Hey God…I Have a Question

Why do people get sick? Why can’t everyone—myself included, just remain well continuously?

After fifty-nine years of living, I’ve seen my share of sickness…even though overall I’ve not been as sick as some. With the exception of German measles, I escaped all childhood diseases. I was fortunate enough to bypass the chickenpox in spite of the fact that everyone else in my middle school class contracted them. Even when both of my children endured them, I came through unscathed. My life has been hospital and surgery-free except for a bleeding ulcer and a malfunctioning gall bladder. Other than the occasional cold, stomach virus, and sinus infection, I’ve been favored with few illnesses. Yet my body houses no built-in immunity. Like everyone else, I could one day hear the doctor say, “The news isn’t good. You have….”  Read more...

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