At ease?

"Rise up, you women who are at ease, and hear my voice; give ear to my word, you complacent daughters."  Isaiah 32:9

I've been struggling with a spirit of complacency lately.  I look at my life, I see things that need to change, and I know in my heart what I need to do to change, but I don't always make the effort.  Or sometimes God tells me to pray for someone or a situation, and discouragement takes over.  "Why try?  I might mess it up."  And often, too often, things stay the same.

These "women at ease" who are warned in Isaiah 32 seem to have the same problem.  Trouble is coming in the form of an Assyrian invasion, and rather than ready themselves for it, they remain complacent and do nothing.  Instead of trembling and trading their clothes for sackcloth (verse 11), they maintain the status quo.  How many times have I done the same when a troubling world event or another clear sign of the end times comes across my radar?  I don't always take it seriously; I make silly excuses ("I'm just not into politics," "Someone else can take care of that," "I have too much going on to think about that right now") instead of allowing the fear of the Lord take over and pray.

Which is what I think these complacent women are supposed to do.  The culture and the time in which they lived prevented them from doing much else than maintaining a household, supporting their husbands if they were married, and praying and serving the Lord.  Granted, most of us ladies have a lot more on our plate in the here and now, but it should really always come back to these basic duties.  And if I devote myself to praying for anything and everything He instructs me to, all three of those excuses I named earlier are rendered null and void.

• "I'm just not into politics" -- Well, guess what?  Even if I'm not that knowledgeable about this particular matter I can still pray that His will will be done.  
• "Someone else can take care of that." -- But I should still pray in case everyone else gives that same excuse.  And since when is it a negative thing for more than one person to pray for something anyway?
• "I have too much going on to think about that right now." -- We can't all live in a house of prayer and focus only on intercession day in and day out, but we can certainly pray in the midst of our daily lives.  Even a quick prayer is heard by the Lord if it's a heartfelt one.

Believe me, this post is mostly serving to just nail me.  I think it's something I needed to write for myself since these verses seemed to jump off the page when I read them earlier today.  As we go further and further into these end times, more and more "Assyrian invasions" are going to happen; things like war, famine, persecution, disease, and death may jump off my radar and into my own backyard, and I don't want to be caught with a complacent spirit.  With times as serious as these, complacency could easily lead to unpreparedness, timidity, and ultimately, a hardened heart.  We may not always know what or how to pray, but if we yield to His Spirit He will intercede for us (Romans 8:26-27).  

And speaking of the Holy Spirit, check out verses 15 through 18 of Isaiah 32.  It describes the wilderness becoming a "fertile field," and righteousness and peace pervading the "peaceful habitation" God's people will find themselves in when "the Spirit is poured out upon [us] from on high."  He saves His people through divine intervention, but He also pours out His Spirit in order to usher in a period of righteousness and security.

Because this chapter is all prophecy and no narrative, we don't really know if these women stayed complacent or if they rose up and interceded for themselves and for their people.  But I know this serves as a reminder for myself.  Whether a particular hardship is imminent or everything looks comfy on the horizon, I had better make my prayerlife a top priority.  Even if a situation is complex or unclear, even if my day is packed with errands and to-do lists, even if I simply don't feel like it, I know I need to get on my knees and pray.  We all do.  If you can't find the words to pray, ask for the Holy Spirit to help you; God gives His Spirit without measure (John 3:34) so I'm pretty certain He never tires of us asking!  And pray that the same Spirit who is interceding for you will also move in a powerful way over the subject of your prayer.  So rise up and say good-bye to complacency.  Maybe a fertile field will rise out of those briars and thorns.

Hope deferred....

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life." Proverbs 13:12

This past week has been the week of trials, it may seem. The Enemy is trying to weaken my faith, as well as the faith of my family and friends. First, he has been systematically attacking several marriages within our church body, mine and my husband's included. Then, he's been trying to whisper lies in my ear when unthinkable hardships come to me and those I hold dear: my grandmother becoming bedridden and possibly facing death less than two months after I lost my grandfather, a wonderful friend and sister in Christ suffering from pain and illness even after hours of prayer and intercession for miraculous healing, and a faithful, deserving couple who after planning for months to adopt a baby were forced to say good-bye when he was only a few hours old when the adoption process fell through. What are the whispers I hear? "How can a loving God allow these things to happen to His children?"

It's an age-old question, often used as fodder by atheists to cause dissention and debate. The fact is, we live in a fallen world. We all will fall victim to disappointment, disease, and death at some point in our lives. And sometimes we may not know this side of Heaven why God allows these things to happen. But one thing I hold to during these hard times: He will work EVERYTHING together for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28). Even the most horrible events in our lives can serve a higher purpose later on, whether it be a lesson learned, an opportunity to cling to His side, a chance to minister to others, or maybe just allowing something better to happen later on when the time is right.

Our hopes are often deferred, as referenced in the Scripture above. Last year my husband and I suffered the loss of a pregnancy. All we wanted was a baby, but that hope was deferred. In our case, God allowed us to conceive very soon after, and now we can't imagine life without our precious son. We still miss the baby we lost, but God turned that hardship into good, in the form of our child, as well as being able to minster to others who have also experienced miscarriages.

The verse above mentions a "tree of life" that comes with desire being fulfilled. The biblical tree of life is currently in Heaven. I can't think of a better desire being fulfilled (or a bigger hope currently being deferred) than one day meeting my Savior and sitting under the branches of His tree of life. Lord, please help me keep this eternal perspective even when times are hard here on earth.