Hungry?

For the past couple of weeks, I have tested an alteration of my eating habits. Lest it be misunderstood, I will clarify: I am not doing a diet! I simply am adjusting slightly my eating to see if it helps my health. Consequently, I am a bit more hungry. A sumptuous meal tastes better when you're hungry.

Jesus talked about people being hungry and thirsty. Actually, "Blessed", said Jesus where those who "hungered and thirst for righteousness" (Matthew 5:6). It wasn't about dieting or not eating certain foods, it was about desiring the things of God.

If one is to be fed, one has to first admit one is hungry. Saying, "I'm not hungry" at meal time around here will get you the response, "Well, then don't eat!" As Christians, we have to be constantly altering our eating habits (by the power of the Holy Spirit) so that we are always hungry, hungry for God's Word and his righteousness. Then it is such a sweet joy to read the Bible and understand what Scripture says about life and godliness. Indeed, it's good to be hungry.

--HM

Frustrated

Why now?

I felt the tightening of frustration's grip within my chest. Taking a few deep, cleansing breaths, I attempted to pry it's fingers from around my esophagus. I was looking over my academic evaluation, a record which shows my college credits and how they are broken up to fulfill academic requirements for my Communications Degree.

I had noticed a few days earlier that one of the credits I had taken, World Religions, wasn't listed. Not a problem, I thought at the time. I had proof I had taken the exam and passed; plus, I could easily send a transcript to my college for it to be added. I made an appointment to talk with my academic adviser about the issue.

But now I noticed that the credit I was planning to take to fulfill my last Communication requirement wasn't qualifying! "Could it mean it won't count?" I thought. I e-mailed my college coach from CollegePlus! to get my mess untangled.

My coach and I talked through options that were open to replace that credit. I felt well prepared to ask my adviser about the issue. However, when the day for the telephone call rolled around, my college was closed due to snow/icy rain storms. I had to sit back and just laugh!

I was so close to being done yet there was this glitch. Just when I thought I could get the glitch taken care of, it's cancelled! And so I laughed, trusting that God knew what He was doing sending a snow storm in February (when those things usually happen) on New Jersey.

On the following Monday, I called the college to reschedule my appointment. To my great surprise, the operator connected me directly to my adviser who told me she was available right then to talk to me. We discussed the credit which couldn't count toward Communications and then found an appropriate credit to replace it. Plus, I could send the college a transcript for my missing World Religions class.

No time was lost off my degree schedule or money truly wasted, though if anyone needs an Art of Theater textbook I have one I won't be reading! Effortlessly and painlessly the issue was taken care of. I even got my book on time from Amazon in order to study! Moreover, I have been enjoying this class and sort of wish I could have taken it sooner.

Frustration's question at the beginning of the episode seemed to be a fair one--"Why now?"

However, "we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28). So if it took this little episode to remind me of this truth, I ask instead, "Why not?"

--HM

Blind Men Reading

"He [the LORD] will give you the desires of your heart" (Psalm 37: 4b). "Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven" (Matthew 18:19). "You may ask for anything in my name and I will do it" (John 14:14).

I have heard these verses and others quoted in proof that if we ask, God will give. It sounds good and, hey, it is Scripture so it has to be true. It is true but only to a certain extent.

This sort of Scripture selection is similar to the poem "Blind Men and the Elephant" by John Godfrey Saxe (1.). In the poem, six blind men feel different parts of an elephant and each comes to a completely different opinion of what an elephant is like. One grabs the tusks and thinks the animal is like a spear. Another finds the trunk and assumes the behemoth is like a snake. One blind man secures the tail and says, "I see...the Elephant is very like a rope."

Though the men were in essence wrong (the whole of the elephant isn't like a rope!), they had part of it right. The trunk of an elephant is similar to a snake but in full view of its size, the animal in and of itself couldn't be farther from the truth.

The same goes with Scripture. If we blindly grab onto one verse of Scripture, such as "He will give you the desires of your heart" and fail to view the Bible as a comprehensive whole, we will miss the big picture and be stuck with only misconstrued truth. This is true for any verse or passage in God's Word.

God does promise us that He will give us what we ask for but it is to be in line with His will: "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us" (1 John 5:14, emphasis added) and "Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart" (Psalm 37:4, emphasis added).

Thus, we, as Christians, read the entirety of the Bible so that we may truly know what God says and what He requires of us.

--HM

1. http://www.wordinfo.info/words/index/info/view_unit/1/?letter=B&spage=3