The Path of Life

First to our family, neighbors, and friends: thank you for your kind words to both of us on Atlas's departure. It was emotional but I read every single comment and message. Atlas was like having my own gentle bear to love and hug; he left a large breed hole in this farm that will never be filled.

I found a few more pictures of the lovable behemoth I wanted to share. The one of him with his eye on the little lost lamb has always been a favorite of mine. 

It's such a visible reminder that God is always watching over me. "He leads us in paths of righteousness for his name's sake." ( Psalm 23:3 ) 

Many times in the Bible life is referred to as a "path." There are ancient paths, evil paths, upright paths, destructive paths, paths that lead to death and paths that lead to peace. 

A path by definition implies moving. It is not a stationary position, but one of continual motion in a particular direction. For those in Jesus Christ, when we trusted in him for our salvation, our feet were graciously placed on the path of life heading now toward our true homeland. We've found our true footing so to speak, and God himself promises to lead us along that path for his name's sake. Psalm 23 describes this journey of the Shepherd gathering and saving his wayward sheep and then leading them all the way home. 

Praise God that he never leaves us or forsakes us on the path. ( Deuteronomy 31:6, Hebrews 13:5-6 ) 

Because without our Shepherd, we would never be able to find our way for Jesus says that the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life. ( Matthew 7:14 ) 

The difficult path to life meanders oftentimes through thorns and thistles, in dry places, along stretches of wilderness territory, in the midst of hurricanes, behind enemy lines. Sometimes I question my Father why we are taking such a precarious route and not on smoother terrain. I stumble and fall, but he steadfastly lifts me to new heights and steadies my feet. He guards and protects me, but why are we taking this mysterious way?

"For his name's sake." Not mine, but his. 

In the Bible someone's name is all that encompasses them, all that they are. When we say, "In Jesus' name," we are saying all that he is, and that's more than we can possibly imagine. His glory, majesty, wisdom, holiness, grace, beauty, promise keeping, and many more, not a speck of imperfection in any of them. 

This is the Shepherd who is leading us in paths of righteousness. His righteousness, the righteousness that is applied to us by his atoning work at Calvary. This is the most comforting thought. When we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we can be confident that there is a plan. Our Shepherd does not lead us arbitrarily, no, he leads us with purpose. Everything in our Christian walk is used for our good, but more than that, for his glory. ( Romans 8:28, Isaiah 47:3 ) 

"For his name's sake." 

And God is "not a man that he should lie." He keeps every promise and fulfills every covenant he has made with his children. If I'm treading through some kind of pain or suffering, I can trust he is guiding me safely through the storm. I can trust him that I will emerge stronger and more Christ-like if I allow him to lead me, my small hand in his. ( Numbers 23:19, 2 Timothy 4:18 ) 

When I meditated this truth from the surface of my heart to the very depths of it, I found a new strength waiting to fortify me in my steps. Each day I remind myself of who I am and who God is. I love the picture of Atlas and the lamb - it's such a visible reminder of this truth. Me in my weakness, but him in his strength, leading me, his eye always upon his little lamb. God speaks through his creation, doesn't he? The earth is singing the song of its Creator. If we have ears to hear, we will hear the music. 

I believe one of the best things we can do is to stop focusing so much on the difficulty of the path and to move our eyes instead upward to the attributes of the Shepherd who is leading us. Yes, cry out to him, be real with him, he wants us to. But he also wants us to remember that he is not only with us on this journey of righteousness, but he is the Leader. 

He has provided the righteousness. 

And if we do happen to look behind us, we will only see goodness and mercy following close at hand, bundling up all of those painful thorns and thistles into beautiful, fragrant bridal bouquets. Creation has the last laugh. 

"You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forever more." ( Psalm 16:11 ) 

Soli Deo Gloria 💛 

Atlas watches over a lamb away from his mom

Tattooed Forever

Not too long ago, I was waiting in line at a local store and found myself standing beside a young man who had a tattoo of Jesus on his arm. Of course, I couldn't help myself. I said, "I like your tattoo; tell me about it. You're a Christian, I'm assuming."

His answer struck me, but I understood it all too well. He smiled a bit and said, "I'm trying." 

"If you're a Christian," I said, "You don't have to try. We can find rest in the most beautiful words Jesus ever spoke: 'It is finished.' You can't finish the job yourself; you know that, right?"

I could tell by his face that he was struggling to understand the concept of grace. His wife said that she wasn't a Christian, but she didn't object, listening quietly to what I was saying. 

"If you could keep yourself saved after you're saved then you could save yourself before you're saved. Does that make sense? And if that's the case, that we have the ability to keep ourselves saved, then Jesus didn't need to die for us in the first place. We could have just saved ourselves to begin with." 

It reveals so much about human nature in general, doesn't it? Trying to earn our way. Knowing we need saving and trying every means possible to obtain it. 

Our salvation actually is based on a covenant of works, but not ours. Jesus's. Jesus came and fulfilled the law perfectly for us because "none is righteous, no, not one....." now his work is applied to us through a covenant of grace. By grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Not by our works, but his. This is the good news of the gospel. ( Psalms 14, 53, Romans 3: 11-18 ) 

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:8-9 

We are created 'for' good works. God prepared work for us to be about in his kingdom as his sons and daughters. He has a plan for each of us. This goes all the way back to the creation story. 

I faced the same struggle with works until one day after wrangling with my salvation, wondering for years if I was in or out, if I had gone too far, if I had done my duty or kept my part of the bargain enough to obtain the promises. Then I sort of had this "Martin Luther moment." I realized as I was listening to a sermon series on the Book of Romans: No, actually I had not kept up my end of the bargain. And that was the whole point. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't. It was impossible. If keeping my salvation was left up to me, I was going to bust hell wide open. 

I finally realized God had been the one who saved me. It wasn't God and me like some kind of joint effort. "Salvation belongs to the LORD!" ( Psalm 3:8, Psalm 62:1, Jonah 2:9, Revelation 7:10 ) It was him, and since it was him, he was capable of bringing me all the way home. 

It wasn't up to me. Paul said that he was convinced the good work God began in us he would bring it to completion. "It is God who works in you." ( Philippians 1:6, 2:12 ) In sanctification the Holy Spirit still does all the work, but he isn't going to do it without us. I can't explain how it works, but I love this. We are not puppets; we are real live sons and daughters in the family of God. 

It had been an exhausting ordeal for many years for me and the Farmer until we understood the full measure of God's grace in Jesus. So, I felt for that young man. I remembered a time when I didn't understand grace. 

When we are saved, yes, there is a new desire put there by the Holy Spirit to obey God and a new power that enables us to obey that wasn't there before, but we still fight against sin, our flesh and the enemy. We have the tools now, and we need to use them as the New Testament commands us over and over, but our salvation is not dependent on us obeying the Bible to get into Heaven. It can't be because we aren't capable of obeying the law perfectly, so our salvation can't be dependent on us keeping the law. If it is, we're going down. 

"Jesus lived the life we should have lived, and died the death we should have died," Dr. Keller explained. Now his perfect life and death are applied to us when we are born again. Praise God. 

"Great, now I can live how ever I want and still get into Heaven!" 

"You can't live how ever you want and expect to get into Heaven!"

Neither of these statements show an understanding of what God did for helpless sinners in sending his Son into the world, and for years I camped out in the second. 

As believers when we fall into sin, we are convicted. We may continue to struggle with the same sins, but they crush us. The weight of our sins is heavy upon us as David described in Psalm 51. 

You know the difference in King Saul and King David was not that David was holier, so he got to be called a man after God's own heart. No, they both sinned terribly, but it wasn't about who sinned worse. It was about how each king responded to their sins. When confronted with his sins, Saul made excuses. When David was confronted with his sins, he fell on his face and truly repented. 

We must fight the good fight of faith. These struggles strengthen us; they cause us to rely on God and not earthly comforts. I don't understand why God just doesn't save us and bring us to Heaven immediately, but I've learned this "light momentary affliction" according to the apostle Paul may have something to do with it. They are earning for us as Paul goes on to say in 2 Corinthians 4 "an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison." ( 1 Timothy 6:12 )  

The dark battle I faced with an alcohol addiction literally felt like it was going to kill me. I had more fear and anxiety because of the sin and its evil tendrils than the alcohol itself giving me cirrhosis of the liver or something of that nature. When I finally repented and cried out to God to help me, the release of the weight still brings me joy every day of my life. Paul is right - there is no comparison. 

We can experience this joy now in glimpses, and those glimpses astound us, but one day we will know the glory without measure. 

Have you ever been speaking with someone and then you parted ways and later started kicking yourself for the things you wished you had said that you didn't? 

I wished I had told the young man that he may have Jesus tattooed on his arm, but God says in Isaiah that he has his children's name engraved on the palm of his hand. I wished I had told him that he may be bearing a picture of Jesus on his arm, but Jesus is bearing the nail scars our sins cost him inside of his hands forever. 

Maybe he'll read this. 

"Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come,

'Tis grace has brought me safe thus far

And grace will lead me home." 💜 

The Gift of Love

One of the things I've been studying lately is the spiritual gifts. It's perhaps one of the most, if not most, controversial subjects in the church. I've read 1 Corinthians 12-14 maybe a hundred times along with the other spiritual gifts passages, and I can not for the life of me, see where the so called "sign" gifts are not for today. I'm trying, but I can't seem to find the bridge in the cessation argument that leads from these verses to "they are not for today." It's like the invisible bridge in the Indiana Jones movie. 

I'm not writing this to try to convince anyone that the sign gifts did not pass away, nor would I ever insinuate that the canon of Scripture is not closed. It is. The way I feel at the moment is that folks need to read the Bible for themselves, study it deeply, and draw their own conclusions. 

I've been in and out of Pentecostal / Charismatic churches since I was a teenager, so yes, I know that spiritual gifts can be abused badly. I've seen things. Believe me. Things that made me want to be a cessationist. 

Last night I was watching a panel of three pastors, two at least very well-known, being asked the question: "Are tongues for today?" Their answers did not surprise me, but what shocked me and the Farmer was their attitudes and mocking of the gift with much laugher from the congregation. 

Paul says, "For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God, " I know individuals who take this scripture quite seriously and fully believe they are being obedient in what the apostle is saying here by using this gift in their private prayer time. It saddens me that fellow Christians, pastors at that, would joke about it. Make a compelling, persuasive argument against it, but don't ridicule it. 

On the other hand, continuists are quick to point out that Paul says we are to earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially prophecy. ( 1 Cor. 14:1 ) True, but what about the first part of the verse? "Pursue love and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts..."  

Pursue love. 

I'm not angry with the pastors, well maybe a little, a better word is disappointed. But how many times have I mocked something? How many times have I been a hypocrite? Sarcastic? How many times have I placed a higher value on biblical teachers and what they said than on the Bible? Let's face it, there are things that we do that we live to regret, things our grandkids might one day in the future think are odd and unbiblical, especially in this day and age when everything under the sun is recorded for the known world to witness. I'm giving these pastors the benefit of the doubt; they may regret it. I forgive them. How can I not? 

I think this is why Paul cuts to the chase in Chapter 13 and says that you can even be a martyr, and if you don't have love, you gain nothing. We can give our bodies over to be burned for Jesus, but God is looking at the motives of our heart. 

That's my take away as I continue to study the gifts. 

And it offends and pricks me fiercely, so I know I'm on the right track. I think it's an important word to the church since Jesus didn't say that the world will know we are his disciples by our display of spiritual gifts, but by our love for one another. 

He says this shortly after he washed their dirty feet: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." ( John 13:34-35 ) 

As we bicker with unloving attitudes toward each other over spiritual gifts or any issue for that matter, is the enemy the one winning? 

One conclusion I can certainly draw is that no matter what one believes about spiritual gifts they will eventually pass away when the perfect comes, as they will no longer be needed, but love never will. ( 1 Corinthians 13 ) 

And yes I know, the definition of Christian love is very different from the world's definition. All the more reason to pursue biblical love. Study it. Eat it. Live it. 

We might not get our gifts right, but are we getting love right? That's the real question. 

"Many waters can not quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised." ( Song of Solomon 8:7 ) 

"But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love." ( 1 John 4:8 ) 

God is love. 

"Pursue love." ( 1 Corinthians 14:1 ) 

Happy Monday.  

Knowing the Truth

"Not everyone who says, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'" ( Matthew 7:21-23 )  

I know, seriously, this is one of the scariest and sobering verses in the entire Bible. 

Many. 

Not a few. 

Jesus says that "many" will say to him essentially, "Aren't we Christians? And he will reply to them essentially, "No, no you aren't." 

I've shared this story before, but it just bears repeating today, concisely. My grandfather was actually not in the above group, and yet his story brought reflective insight into my own. Diagnosed with cancer and confined to a wheelchair at the VA hospital, my grandfather's prognosis was grim. 

Looking back now, I see where God could have used this affliction to humble his rough, proud spirit, being dependent on others for the first time in his selfish life. He was an alcoholic, had claimed to be an atheist, never darkened the doorway of a church, or read the Bible, probably never owned one. 

After he suffered a stroke on top of his other aliments, my dad took his pastor to visit him. The pastor asked my grandfather if he knew Jesus, and his answer has stuck with me through the years. I was fifteen at the time, and my dad told me the story when he came home that day. 

My grandfather said of Jesus, "I know about him, but I don't know him." 

"About," him. 

That's such a raw, honest answer. 

One of my heroes of the faith is Elisabeth Elliot. 

I've read so much about her. I can tell you when she was born, when she died. I can tell you about her daughter and her grandkids. I can tell you the books she wrote, the suffering she experienced, and the incredible mission and Bible translation work she did in South America after her husband was speared to death. I can tell you where she grew up and where she taught college.  

But I never had the experience and pleasure of meeting her personally. That would have changed my knowledge of her in an extremely deep and profound manner. 

For years I was like this with Jesus. Funny, I wasn't as rough as my grandfather, but I was no different from him.  

I knew about Jesus, but I didn't know him personally. 

I thought I did. 

Why? 

Because I did darken the doorway of many churches, and I owned more than one Bible. I did read it and pray, especially when I was in trouble, or wanted something. I made an effort to behave, to not be selfish. I did know when Jesus was born and when he died. Christmas and Easter. I knew the details of Jesus's life, but one day I realized I didn't know Jesus. 

Personally.

The day I realized that I hadn't known him was the day that I finally came to the end of myself. My heart was broken, and I repented in tears of not only my sin and rebellion against God, but of my "good works" - my own righteousness - in attempting to save myself through my obedience to the laws in the Bible.  

When I believed in Jesus and finally understood that his fulfilling of the law had been applied to me, I was overjoyed! That Jesus lived the life I should have lived, and died the death I should have died. 

In the mornings, I began to wake up giving thanks to God that the Farmer and I had made it through the night. I couldn't wait to grab my coffee and read the Bible. Not to check a box or gain information, but to gain more of Christ. Not to find me in the story, but to find him. 

I had a new desire to obey God, not to earn my salvation, but because of my salvation. Because for the first time in my life I understood the grace and love and sacrifice of Jesus, and it developed in me a love for him too. Suffering still came to me, but it was different now. It was like God had given me a fresh set of eyes and a new sense of hearing. My life began to change. 

And it started the day I supernaturally transformed from just a head full of facts about Jesus to a heart full of friendship with Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. The day God opened my heart to believe. 

I heard that another man who stood in stark contrast to my grandfather, Dr. Billy Graham, also made a statement and it too has stuck with me over the years. When I first heard what he said, I didn't understand it at all. But now it has become clear. Dr. Graham said that he thought the biggest mission field is the church.  

When I searched online to verify the quote, I found another sobering word from Dr. Graham in Decision Magazine. Dr. Graham stated in his article concerning the church: "Every minister will agree that there is a church within the church - that group of people, often a minority, in almost every congregation who have met the living Christ and can never be the same again." 

A minority? Wow! That thought should sucker punch us straight in the gut. It did me. This is why I felt an urgency to share my story today. So much is at stake. I was in that group; maybe that's why I have such a passion for them. 

I praise God that my grandfather came to know his Savior that day. His relationship with Jesus in this life was a short one because he died two weeks later. But when he heard and believed the gospel of Jesus Christ, he transferred from death into life, from a head full of facts into a changed heart full of friendship. With Christ. I look forward to one day seeing my grandfather transformed into the beautiful image of Jesus. 

"I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth." ( 3 John 1:4 ) I think I understand to a degree what John meant when he wrote this letter. More than our own joy in salvation is the joy of seeing others come to know Jesus as well. 

I'll close with a well-known quote from another respected pastor and preacher, Dr. S.M. Lockridge. 

"That's my King. Do you know him?"   

Ratting Out the Building

One of my quail cages located above the duck's shelter sits up on short legs. There's enough room for me to squeeze my hand up under it to scoop out the bedding that falls through the small squares of wire. Being the frugal farmer I am, we are going to recycle that bedding. So I toss it back into the cage for comfortable quail nest bedding, a soft place for the girls to lay their sweet little eggs. 

Last week as I was scooping out the bedding underneath their cage, I couldn't quite reach the very back, so I used a small garden hoe to pull the straw and pine chips out of the very back. I keep the tool in the bird area to reach duck and goose eggs the birds decide to lay up under hard to reach places. When I shoved it under the quail cage, to my horror, a big rat ran out right at me, then turned back, scamping down the side of the cargo shed to who knows where.

I screamed so loud that Aslan who was sleeping on the back porch was at my side in a split second. God love that big, loyal boy. I didn't know Great Pyrenees could move that fast. 

I have to say that I'm proud of myself, proud in a good way, if that's such a thing, that I've learned to deal with God's beasts at the squeaky, slimy and scaly end of the creature pool. Farming will do that to you, ready or not. Some of my friends are so impressed that I have slipped my hand into the uterus of a distressed sheep to help deliver her lamb, but that's child's play. 

I've encountered and dealt with black snakes in the hen nesting boxes, families of mice living high on the hog in the grain bin, toads taking up residency on the front porch, dozens of decapitated lizards Charlie has dropped across my bare feet like a hunting trophy, but this, this dirty rat under the quail cage. No can do. I told the Farmer he had to help me deal with this one. 

I stopped short of scolding the cats who sleep inside of the cargo shed which is also home to our chicken brooder and livestock supplies. That dang thing was almost as big as them. 

In 2009 when we were building our little cabin, like everyone undertaking the construction process, we were bombarded with many questions and decisions. Early on we were asked, "Do you want this house built on a crawl space or concrete slab?" 

"Crawl space?" Do you see what I mean? The term just sounds creepy. For the exception of my childhood home, every house I had ever lived in up to that point sat over top of a crawl space. 

"I'll take a concrete slab," I relied. I didn't even have to think about it. Although, I should have put more thought into my quail habitats. 

"Concrete slab." The phrase conjures up a rock solid image in my mind. Unyielding, immovable, nothing fancy, just hard, flat gritty strength. Enduring the most dreaded of circumstances. Nothing a big, dirty rat could get its claws underneath. 

Foundations are everything. 

Spiritually speaking, they reflect the cornerstone we build our world view upon. They become the principles that govern our decisions, working themselves out in the everyday details of our lives. They impact who we marry, how we raise our children and treat others, how we keep our promises and honor our commitments. How we live when no one is looking. Whether we like it or not, they influence those around us, for good or bad. Even if we think no one is looking. 

For instance, if we believe in the doctrine of sin that the fallenness of man has rendered everyone unable to seek for God then we will not treat anyone like they are a worse sinner than ourselves. 

If we believe that people are created in the image of God, we will treat all others, in spite of their sin, and no matter their station in life, with dignity and respect, working for their good. 

If we believe that God so loved the world that he sent Jesus Christ, his only Son, to be the sacrificial lamb redeeming us from our sin and securing our adoption into the family of God with God as our Father, we will be single-minded in our devotion to Jesus and in sharing the Good News of God's grace with others. 

As Christians I believe everyday we need to revisit our foundation and examine its material and structure being aware of any nasty rodents, ungodly world views plaguing the current culture that are attempting to scratch and claw their way into our hearts. Have we positioned our blueprint and squared our concrete off of the Cornerstone? 

It takes intentionality to not blend with the surrounding environment, and yet, live lives of integrity. We must wake up each morning with a fighting spirit to resist it and guard the precious regenerated heart Jesus gave his life to secure for ours. ( 1 Timothy 6:12, 1 Corinthians 3, Ephesians 6 )  

A prayer I pray for my grandchildren is that God would make the greatest desire of their young hearts to know Jesus and every morning they would bounce out of bed passionately making a beeline for their Bibles, reading the Word, singing the Word, and praying the Word. I request such a desire for my own heart.

"We are God's building." ( 1 Corinthians 3:9b ) 

And God has filled all of our structures up with his Holy Spirit just as the Prophet Joel promised, enabling us by his power to obey and serve him with gladness. And to stand firm. Forever. ( John 14:16, Joel 2:28-32, Acts 2:17, Romans 8 ) That's a concrete slab promise if ever there was one. Our building process and progress spring out of this joy. 

"Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock." ( Matthew 7:24-26 )

Happy Monday!

Staying Grounded

The Farmer and our daughter-in-law Carrie share a common interest in their daily practice of "grounding." If you don't know what grounding means, in the therapeutic sense of the word, don't feel out of the loop, I didn't either. 

In the simplest terms, and there's a boat load of information online if you're interested in learning more, grounding also known as "earthing" is when you walk barefoot directly on the ground so to connect with the electrical charges in the earth. It is believed that through grounding the natural defenses of the body can be restored, possibly aiding in inflammation, heart disease, muscle damage, chronic pain, and mood. The science behind it is interesting to read. The Farmer is convinced that this is why he feels so healthy at the beach. If you look closer you might find an excuse to go fishing. 

Whenever I babysit my grandchildren, one of the activities on our schedule always involves kicking off our shoes and walking around on the soft grass together while Gigi keeps an eye out for bees. 

At the farm however, there is only one strip of land worthy of grounding, in other words, "manure free." It happens to lay along side of the creek, so every evening when the Farmer heads down to the barn to shut up the chickens for the night, he "grounds" himself in this area. 

I'm not sure if the little boy inside of him started to leap up during one of his grounding sessions or what, but he came in from his walk a couple of weeks ago and said that he now splashes through the mud puddles along the way. He said that he added the puddles to his grounding routine because he read where mud was extra healthful, plus "the puddles are full of really cool bull frogs." 

Whatever.  

I've not formed the habit of grounding here at the farm like the Farmer, but I can assure you when and if I do it won't include sloshing through mud puddles in my bare feet.  

So, he comes in the back door a couple of nights after that and announces that when he splashed through the deepest puddle, the one in front of the sheep field, where the most bullfrogs live, ( I'm not sure how he knows this ) that when he stepped into the puddle, the biggest bullfrog he had ever seen rose up out of the murky water straight in front of him. He said it all happened so suddenly, and before jumping out of the puddle himself, he realized it wasn't a bullfrog but a brown snake. 

That's not a color you want to see in a snake. He said it was in the puddle eating bullfrogs. Fortunately, the snake slithered away before eating a bite out of the Farmer. 

"Seriously, you were cured of heart disease, only to die by snake venom. That doesn't seem very grounded."

I think he needs to get his tractor back there and fix those holes.

The moral of this story may seem obvious at first glance. 

"Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made." 

"He said to the woman, 'Did God actually say...???'"

The woman explains to the serpent that the couple may eat from any tree in the garden except for the tree in the midst of the garden for then they will surely die. 

"But the serpent said to the woman, 'You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." ( Genesis 3:1, 3 ) 

Notice in the Garden of Eden how at first the serpent acts all innocent like he's confused with God's commandment. Then he completely contradicts God, revealing that something more sinister, in deed an evil presence, is controlling this ordinary snake.  

Our first human parents bought into the lie. Yeah, verse 6 says that Adam was right there with Eve.

The serpent didn't deny the existence of God. Neither did he go after God's holiness, his divine will, or his law. No, he acknowledges that there are commandments, but what are God's motives behind those decrees? Why is God keeping you from this "pleasant" thing?  

The serpent seductively plants and then produces doubt in their minds of God's grace, love, and goodwill toward them. 

Essentially, the serpent attacked the goodness of God, and we've been questioning his goodness ever since whether we realize it or not. 

"Why is God allowing me to go through all of this if I am his child?" 

"Why isn't God answering my prayer?"

"After all, I'm asking for good things: salvation, health, and justice." 

You see when we are convinced that God is not only sovereign, holy, and all-wise, but good, we become grounded at the core of who we are as Christians. 

"If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him?" ( Matthew 7:11 ) If we would only give things to our children that would benefit them, how much more does God do that? 

When doubts begin to rise up out of the murky waters of suffering and uncertainty, the enemy is beginning to plant seeds of doubt. It is in these moments we must remember God can only work good, even if we don't understand the process. A child usually cries when a splinter is being removed or a bone is being reset or a vaccine is being administered. 

When we doubt God's goodness, we will begin to take matters into our own hands because we can't trust God with how our lives are going. We'll decide that we need to be the one calling the shots, treating our own pain, and determining which commandments to obey in the process by twisting God's words or using any means available. 

"Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!" Psalm 34:8

This may be a fallen, broken world, but God remains good and works for our good in the midst of the mayhem that all started in the garden. Everything that the slithering, conniving enemy of our souls would use to harm us, God is using for our good. Remember that God is the one who made that old serpent the devil in the first place. We are not given much information in the Genesis account of how that evil came about, but another thing to remember is that "God is light, and in him is no darkness, at all." ( 1 John 1:5 )  

When we are convinced of this, only then, can we see through the murky waters of temptation, sin, and pain, and into the joy and the light. Only then can we truly trust God in adversity. I love what the apostle Paul says in Philippians: "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."  

This is not ground-breaking material. 

Satan has been using the argument of God's goodness since the beginning. And the only way we are going to be grounded in the truth that God is perfectly good is to ground ourselves in the Word of God every single day, meditating especially on the scriptures declaring his goodness, and there are many! Entrusting him with the ones we don't understand while refusing to avoid them. 

Then let this foundational truth lead us to develop a strong prayer life. These spiritual disciplines are the only key, and until we finally make time for the means of grace in our busy schedules, we will never be convinced, thus grounded, in the truth that God is good and works for our good in all things. ( Romans 8:28, Genesis 50:20 ) 

Even in the pain and suffering, especially in the pain and suffering. 

It does take consistent, intentional work and time, but it is so worth it because out of these practices, these good works, a relationship begins to grow with our Father. And we gain a true, clearer picture of his good nature as we spend time in the Scriptures and in prayer. Again, if you've been a Christian any length of time, this is not ground-breaking information, but it does bring about earth-shattering results in our lives. 

So, stay out of the mud! Let's renew our minds to the Word of God and not allow that serpentine lie to take a bite out of our faith and trust in God's goodness. Let us "stir up one another to love and good works..." ( Hebrews 10:24 ) 

I have to say after thinking about the practice of grounding, not in slimy puddles, mind you, but on the clean, clear visible earth, there does seem to be an element of Eden about the whole thing, returning to our roots. For me that's the electric energy, walking in the garden, the way God originally created us to live and work and enjoy him. 

However, grounding also reminds me that as God's children through Jesus Christ, one day we will be permanently grounded, not just to where we came from and what we once were, but to a heavenly, garden life exceedingly far better than before. 

Happy 4th of July!