My Daddy’s Face

By: Joan C. Benson, cbn.com

“Where is daddy’s face?” asked my six-year-old granddaughter. “I can’t find him!”

The child turned over random puzzle pieces, examining the details for clues. The puzzle had been a gift created from family photos, each image representing a favorite memory.

Shrugging her little shoulders, Cassie added, “I know he’s here! I just need to look harder.”

“Look, Cass, is this your Daddy’s eye and nose?” I asked, holding up a piece.

“Yes, yes, I see him!” my sweet grandchild answered.

“Let’s keep looking until we have daddy all together, Cassie.”

I was reminded that sometimes I, too, have searched for my Father’s “face” among the disassembled puzzle pieces of my life. I’ve even cried out, Where are you? In those times of darkness, I have had to trust and remember who my Heavenly Father is. Like Cassie, I need to look harder for evidence of God’s presence, instead of fixating on the unsolved problem. It seems to be human nature to painfully focus on what is wrong, those missing pieces.

Yet we have assurance that God has not abandoned us:

“And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow — not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below — indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord,” Romans 8:38-39 (NLT).

What an all-encompassing promise!

Exodus explains that God’s face is hidden from view because He is so holy:

“But you may not look directly at my face, for no one may see me and live” Exodus 33:20 (NLT).

The Bible is explicit. God is not withholding his presence because he is an unkind Father, but He is so sinless that we could not survive a face-to-face encounter. Thus, enters Christ. He is why we can have relationship with this Holy God. Through the sacrifice of Christ, the penalty for our sins have been laid to rest, absolved, on the cross. Father God can now see us as forgiven and perfect in His sight!

We have been given the promise of seeing Father God face to face in heaven. As the song title says, “I can only imagine …” what that will be like.

“And they will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads. And there will be no night there — no need for lamps or sun — for the Lord God will shine on them” Revelation 22:4-5a (NLT).

I will then be perfected, and though in awe, I’m sure, I will see Him clearly, face to face.

Even when I feel like young Cassie, searching for my Father’s face, I can say with the confidence of a child, I know He is with me. Look for His presence around you. Listen for His voice, and watch for evidence in all ways. As you search for your Spiritual Father in the middle of your unsolved puzzle, know He is near. You can encounter His presence.

“Come close to God, and God will come close to you, …” James 4:8 (NLT).

His desire is to comfort you with great love and compassion. Look up from your despair, and He will show His face when you need it most.

Living with Need

by Ryan Duncan, crosswalk.com

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. – Matthew 6:34

It all began with an enormous doctor’s bill. Over the past few months I had been trying to do a better job at budgeting my finances. This had never been one of my strong points, but slowly, surely, I felt like I was starting to make progress toward becoming a true, independent adult. Then the doctor’s bill came. Aside from putting a huge dent in my finances, what made things even more frustrating was that I began to recall the appointment in question.

The doctor had been almost two hours late and had left me waiting in one of those small service rooms, convinced I’d die of old age before he arrived. After that, there had been the tetanus shot that left my arm feeling stiff and sore for the rest of the day. Now I was looking down at a small piece of paper that told me I was expected to pay a ridiculous sum of money for the inconvenience of both. I decided the first thing to do was pray and ask God to help me with my finances. Once I had finished, I began flipping through my Bible for some sense of assurance.

I finally landed on this verse in Philippians:

I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble. – Philippians 4:10-14

This was not the answer I had hoped for. No one likes being told to tighten their belt, and as I began cleaning up my apartment I couldn’t help feeling a little annoyed at God. Midway through my work, I realized I had just enough food in my pantry, my rent was paid, and my car hadn’t died on me yet. So maybe I’d have to eat leftovers for a few meals or spend an evening reading instead of going out, so maybe I was living with a little bit of need; I had a lot more than many.

Sometimes it’s easy to overlook the ways God has blessed our lives. We worry about what we don’t have, instead of looking around and acknowledging what God has already provided. So when times of need start to make you worry, remember that God will always provide, though not always in the way you might expect.

Comfort My Soul

By: Jeannie Waters, cbn.com

It was my fault.

Questions swirled as I drove to the top of the Interstate exit ramp toward the hospital to visit my eighty-three-year-old widowed mom. “Congestive heart failure” rang in my ears.

Will Mama be safe living alone? Would she move in with us? Will the new meds help?

Deep in thought, I steered my Camry the wrong way onto a one-way street—straight into the headlights of a young man’s car.

I stared through the cracked windshield in disbelief. Thoughts flashed like lightning: I went the wrong way! Is he hurt? Why isn’t he getting out? It’s my fault. What should I do?

Guilt and fear captured me. My head throbbed in rhythm with my heart.

I cried, “Oh, please help me, Father God. Look what I did. Please let that man be okay. Help me, Father.”

Although I stood on wobbly legs when I exited the car, a sense of calmness soothed me. While I watched the other driver and the policeman who observed the accident walk toward me, my heavenly Father whispered assurance as if to say, “I am here. All is well.”

The external situation did not change. Traffic backed up and people gawked. My car, pointed in the opposite direction of the one-way arrow, announced, “It was her fault.” Deep inside, something did change. Peace replaced panic because of the One who stood beside me.

God didn’t arrive at the scene of the crash; He was there all along, ready to tend my troubled state. The balm of His presence relieved the flames of fear that engulfed me.

Months later, when my mother met Jesus face-to-face, the Lord soothed my heart again. Since the accident and Mama’s death, I’ve thanked God numerous times for His relief and answered prayer. When troubling news or a challenge careens down mental streets threatening to crash into my contentment, I often confess, “Father, I need You. Please help me.”

When I experience His willingness to exchange my unrest for His solace, I proclaim,

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation …” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 NKJV

The author of Psalm 66 also remembered the way God nurtured his soul. Perhaps he yearned to shout with joy and beckon those he knew to listen when he wrote,

“Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will declare what He has done for my soul.” Psalm 66:16 NKJV

Maybe the psalmist recalled Yahweh’s peace in fearful times or deliverance when enemies advanced. Surely, like us, he encountered daily challenges which prompted him to testify of God’s care.

Like the psalm writer, in the face of trials and challenges, believers can turn down the one-way street of prayer to seek the “God of all comfort.” Regardless of the roadblocks we face or the errors of our ways, His consolations are limitless.

We could compose our own song of praise in a journal or in prayer to thank God for caring for our souls. What do you remember about the times God cared for you? Do you need His reassurance today? Like the gel of an aloe plant relieves sunburned skin, the balm of divine comfort quiets anxious hearts.

Pry Those Clinging Fingers

By: Peter Lundell, cbn.com

I moved my mother to a new, downsized apartment. Like most of us, her money is tight. At times the process involved careful sorting and packing; other times demanded chucking things in boxes or in the trash. At the end of the move, the walls were bare and wounded with nail holes and plastic drywall anchors; the carpet lay lined and pocked with impressions of once-arranged furniture; and the windows stood stark and vacant against the sunlight. The furniture and decorations that once made it home were gone, leaving only an empty shell.

Throughout our lives we may go through some phases with great care and others with wild abandon. And at each phase of life, we will leave the previous one behind—like a place that was once home but is now gone, like an empty apartment.

At death we may leave behind money and furniture, but the life we lived—the space we took up on this earth, the “us” that people knew—will be gone, empty as a moved-out-house.

No matter how sentimental, or wounded, we may be about the past, we must leave it as we enter a new phase of life. A wise person will cling to nothing, and live according to what’s ahead. In a way we all know this, and my talking about it is clicheish. But humans have an innate tendency to cling. We fill our closets and garages with stuff we’ll never use again. We hold on to nostalgic versions of memories and edit out the unhappy parts. We want life to keep going the way we like it.

But we can’t do that forever.

Jesus tells a parable of a guy who was a lot more similar to many of us than we’d like to admit. The story goes like this:

“The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:16-21 NIV).

If we cling to our stuff, we’ll only get into trouble—both in this life and the afterlife.

Not clinging takes unending attention. None of these come easily: not clinging to old toys and the piles of stuff that too often defined who we were; not clinging to comfort zones, hurt emotions, and the way things used to be.

Like a rented apartment, our lives may seem like our own, but ultimately they are not. We live and breathe in the hands of God, who created us. When our life’s lease is up, all we leave behind will be emptied of us.

The Apostle Paul similarly calls believers to let go of our stuff. The more we let go of here, the more we can expect to receive in the place God has prepared. Here is the amazing promise:

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9 NIV).

The Sign Of Jonah

From: Crosswalk.com

As the crowd pressed in on Jesus, he said, “These are evil times, and this evil generation keeps asking me to show them a miraculous sign. But the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah.” – Luke 11:29

People who struggle with faith sometimes say that, if they could have actually seen Jesus at work and heard him with their own ears, they would not have any problems believing. As understandable as this may be, it is probably not true. Some of the people who saw Jesus at work and who heard him speak still struggled with believing! They argued with him over what he had said, they were dissatisfied with the miracles he performed, and they kept asking him for more miraculous signs.

Jesus’ response to their lack of belief is enlightening. He saw their attitude not so much as a struggle to believe, but as a symptom of “evil times” and an “evil generation” (Luke 11:29). He was convinced that his contemporaries had been given more than enough evidence that he was who he claimed to be. Their unbelief was not an unfortunate or unavoidable lack of faith—it was an outright act of wickedness. They chose not to believe and demanded further signs.

One day, Jesus said that there would be no more signs except one—“the sign of the prophet Jonah” (11:29). Jesus’ listeners were familiar with the story of the prophet. When God commissioned Jonah to head in an easterly direction to preach to the city of Nineveh, Jonah intentionally headed west to Tarshish. But not for long! God hurled a storm at the ship, and Jonah was hurled overboard by the reluctant crew when they discovered he was responsible for their plight and when rowing and praying hadn’t worked for them. Then a large fish swallowed him and regurgitated him three days later. When God again told Jonah to go to Nineveh, there were no arguments! Jonah arrived in Nineveh and preached as he had been told. He made quite a stir—revival swept the city.

Perhaps some of Jesus’ listeners understood what Jesus meant by the “sign of the prophet Jonah,” but many of them certainly did not. So to give them another hint, Jesus added, “Someone greater than Jonah is here” (11:32). He was referring to himself. And the sign that he would bring—the sign to end all signs—would be like what happened to Jonah. Jesus would go down into death (rather than into the sea), would be buried for three days (in a tomb rather than in a fish), and on the third day would rise from the dead (by his own power rather than by being spit out). Thereafter he would show himself openly and preach the Good News of the kingdom. That was the final sign, which in Jesus’ opinion is more than adequate as a basis of faith for all men at all times.

The issue for men today becomes, “How do I respond to Jesus’ resurrection from the dead?” Christianity stands or falls on this tenet of the faith. If Christ is risen, he is all he said he was—the Messiah, the Son of God, the eternal king. If he isn’t risen, he’s dead—and irrelevant. Either way, we don’t need more signs. We need to choose to believe what the evidence clearly shows. To refuse to believe is simply wickedness.

Where’s Nemo?

By: Diane Virginia, cbn.com

“We should name him Nemo,” I teased as we lowered our goldfish into the backyard pond. But then, there were those two cute dots at the base of his tail and two bigger dots on his fins.

“How about Duce?” my husband suggested.

“Perhaps Dos?” I countered.

And so, it was decided; his name would be Ducy-Dos. We were happy and so was our goldfish, but that changed the day of the accident. While we were cleaning the pond, Ducy-Dos tumbled into the pump housing.

For weeks, I kept the pump lid off, waiting to catch a glimpse of Ducy-Dos. I placed a net pondside, so I’d be able to take decisive action. I tempted our goldfish to surface, enticing him with tasty snacks. After three months of frequenting the pump housing, hoping to save our fish, I positioned the lid back into place.

“Honey, don’t give up so fast.” my husband encouraged.

“He’s not coming out of there.” Unable to retrieve Ducy-Dos, I had concluded our prized fish was dead.

“But we prayed …”

My husband’s words, “but we prayed,” echoed within me like a soft hammer. Sure. We had prayed three months ago, when the accident first happened. So why hadn’t I sighted our beloved fish on the first day we had prayed? I was convinced our prayer was too trivial for God’s ears. Besides, why should He retrieve our fish when I should’ve been more careful positioning the pump lid?

But then, there was the lightning storm and subsequent power failure. When the pumps switched off, I raced to the edge of the pond to make sure they would start correctly when electricity was restored. Sitting in the rain, listening to the thunder, I thought about Ducy-Dos. But we prayed. My husband’s words echoed in my heart once again, along with the scripture that nothing—absolutely nothing—is impossible for a holy God.

“… nothing shall be impossible unto you.” Matthew 17:20b

Scripture echoes the same sentiment in I Peter. Because I am the Lord’s, I am:

“a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people,” and I should be able to “shew forth the praises of him who hath called… [me] …out of darkness into his marvellous light.” 1 Peter 2:9 KJV

Ducy-Dos, if alive, was very much in the dark. But, wasn’t I as well? I wasn’t putting faith in the words I had spoken to God. I needed to believe He could raise Ducy-Dos out of that pump housing. I wanted to tap into the realm of God and be different — yes, peculiar — because of my faith. I surrendered my little fish to the Lord and trusted Him to give or take Ducy-Dos at His will. I was at peace, even while the rain pelted me, drenching my clothing through to my skin.

To my utter amazement, when the power came on and the pumps re-started, a big gulp of water, air, and algae came spouting into the air, and with it our beloved fish! Ducy-Dos landed splat into my open hands, which by reflex I grasped onto tightly.

“Ducy-Dos!” I cried, examining him as if he was a newborn babe. His color was faded, but other than that, he was unharmed. We renamed our goldfish Nemo and thanked God for this unusual answer to prayer.

Friends, never give up on something you’ve prayed about. God has a wonderful way of granting surprises because He is good, and He loves you. Make the decision to praise Him even when you’re experiencing the storms of life.

Thank You, God, that with You, all things are possible through prayer.