I WAS WHINING AGAIN

Yesterday, my pastor, BJ Stricklin, preached a great message from 1 Corinthians 3 on spiritual unity. He reminded us that the foundation of unity is the understanding that WE is greater than ME, and, beyond that, that HE (God) is greater even than WE. We must take our eyes off ourselves and place them on others, and, most importantly, on Him.

My heart has been whining a bit lately before the Lord. About my current situation: my health problems and the health of many around me; my changing ministry role in this season; changes that are happening around me (that I love and believe in) but that are hard for me personally. All of these are simply the natural progression of life.

At the close of the third worship service, God brought me to a wonderful, fresh surrender of my life to Him. A reminder that I have had so much throughout my life, and it was all from Him.

And that nothing has ever been about me … it never has been. It is about Him and His glory. I told the Lord I was tired of whining and ready to move forward by His grace, grateful for the privilege of knowing and walking with Him. It was a blessed and needed surrender and course correction, once again. I walked out of the room a little taller and a lot more joyful.

IN PRAYER
As I entered His presence this morning in prayer, I began to thank Him and write my thanks in my prayer book for all the experiences and people He has given me in the last 75 years … things others do not have and have never experienced. It filled pages, and I was overwhelmed with the sheer magnitude of His blessings.

I wrote of people I’ve known, friends I have, my blessed, adventuresome wife, my 10 children (2 in heaven) and their families, the manifold experiences of His manifest presence—over and over again—that have shaped and transformed me, the great and godly mentors I have had; my godly, discipling parents, and brothers, and my sweet sister; the churches I’ve been allowed to pastor and the people I have been enabled to invest in; the places I have preached; the mission trips around the world where we have encountered God and the expansive nature of Christ’s body; the missionaries I have been blessed to know and minister to and that have ministered to me; the privilege of joining others to begin the Summit Family of Churches … and on and on and on. And the added gift of being allowed to write and speak for His purposes.

But most astounding is that the Lord created me, and called me, and then came to inhabit me by His Spirit, giving me all of Him and all I need. The glorious, all-encompassing, all-sufficient gift of His presence.

AND JACOB
And then, my reading that followed prayer this morning was in Genesis 28. Isaac blesses Jacob and sends him off to get a wife. Along the way, we read this account of Jacob’s dream of a ladder with angels going up and down.

13 The LORD was standing there beside him, saying, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your offspring the land on which you are lying. 14 Your offspring will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out toward the west, the east, the north, and the south. All the peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 15 Look, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land, p 24 for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” (Ge 28:13–15)

The Lord was with Jacob and promised to remain with Him. The Lord was speaking to him. What could be more glorious? And by God’s grace, this, in some measure, has been my very experience. The Lord has been with me, standing by me, speaking to me, over and over again for seven and a half decades.

Jacob realized what had happened and replied:

16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.” 17 He was afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! This is none other than the house of God. This is the gate of heaven.” (Ge 28:16–17)

Surely, I have experienced the foyer of heaven, every morning in prayer. I see it as such each day as I open the door and enter in, just as He invited me to do in Matthew 6:6. In glorious experiences with my family, with friends, with godly mentors, with young men I’ve discipled, with wonderful groups of His people in churches around the world; in seasons of God’s manifest presence, and day to day in prayer and His Word, He has let me experience His presence.

He has been and will be with me, and has blessed me and used me, and afterward He will receive me to glory. What could be more glorious in this life?

My whining is over. Lord, keep it so. And when I forget, set me down before my wonderful pastor and correct me again. I may dabble in it, but don’t let me wallow there, and particularly, don’t let me affect others by any crusty, old, sad, self-focus.

It is not about me; it never has been. And I am, of all men, most blessed.