Is God In Control or Man?

For the past year, I have heard nothing but people in a panic and an uproar over
this election. I've heard lies, hyped up messages and everything else about
both candidates. I am a Christian and I am African American. I have been
bullied, sullied and whatever else into voting for either candidate. I've
been told I'm not a Christian if I vote for Obama. I've been told I'm not
black if I vote for McCain. I've never seen anything like it.

I have a question for those of us who call ourselves Christians: Is God in
control or is man? I've heard a lot about evil and how we can't let evil
win. God is ultimately over it all.He has already won. Yes, I know we are to
stand up for what's right, but where is our faith? If Obama wins, is God
still not God? If McCain wins, is God still not God? Is He in control, or is
man? Will God not take care of His children despite who our earthly
"kings/queens" are? Does anything happen that God doesn't know about? Can He
not protect His people? Did He promise us that everything was going to go
our way? Did He say that victory is His? Why are we who are the called of
His name in turmoil and panic? If McCain wins, does that mean evil will
cease? If Obama wins, does that mean evil will abound? These are HUMAN
BEINGS! They are fallible; God is not.

If America becomes a socialist country, does that mean Jesus is not Lord of
all? Does it mean He won't be able to feed or clothe you? Are His arms tied
and He won't rescue His people? Is He blind to not see what's going on in
our world?

Did He not warn us that there will be perilous times ahead? Persecution?
Death? Did we forget this message? Do we not realize that time is short? We
are fed a message about stopping abortion, but yet we have millions of
babies who go to bed hungry every night. We have single mothers who are
paying $250/wk for daycare. Nobody cares about the child who wasn't aborted,
but lives with a single mother in the ghetto. Nobody thinks about them.
Nobody cares about the thousands upon thousands of young black men who have
been killed. The ones who are imprisoned.The church is supposed to care for
widows an orphans, but is the church doing that? No. We have a million and
one seminars on Purpose Driven Living. Praise and Worship. Boundaries. But
are we the Church spreading the Gospel? Not really. People die and go to
hell because the Church is not proclaiming Jesus Christ is Lord. We're
protesting gay marriage, but yet we don't tell gay people that Jesus loves
them. That He died for them so that they don't have to succumb to sin that
is not in His will. Homosexuals need to know Jesus. Children born out of
wedlock need to know Jesus. Liberal Democrats need to know Jesus.
Conservative Republicans need to know Jesus.

I am so tired, people. I have been assaulted with panic, gloom and doom,
mainly from Christians. It is very sad to me that we in American believe
that we can continue on a course where we won't have to suffer. We think
we're entitled to live a life where things are handed to us on a platter. We
have it so easy here in this country. We have food in our bellies, money in
our pockets. Some of have more than one vehicle. No, you may not be a
millionaire, but the average person in the world lives on less than $1/day.
People are living in grass huts and eating mud cakes. I have three Bibles in
my home. There are people in countries that die for even saying that they're
a Christian.

We complain about having to pay more taxes. We complain about crime. We
complain, complain, complain. Jesus told us in this life we will have many
troubles, but take heart because He has overcome the world. He DID NOT
guarantee that our country would not fall away. It hurts me to see the
condition that our country is in. We're in a mess, but you know, I have to
say that if the Church did what it's supposed to do, maybe things would get
better. We think because we elect a man that God is going to reward us for
picking the "right" man, or judge us for picking the wrong one. What does
that have to do with HIS kingdom? His agenda? Who are we living for? The
American way of life or God's way of life?

I know that as an American, God has blessed me to live in a country where I
have a lot of freedom. Many people died so that I could enjoy that freedom.
As an African American, I think I understand that more than a lot of people.
I'm not saying that to be divisive, but it is true. My people weren't even
allowed to vote in this country until just a little over 40 years ago, so I
don't take that freedom lightly. I believe in our political process. I
believe that God ordained this country to be the super power that it is. I
believe He allowed me to be born here so that I could spread His word to
others that don't know Him. My hope is not the American way of life; my hope
is in Jesus Christ.

I am a sixth generation American--actually, some of my ancestors greeted the
Pilgrims. I am an American, but I am a resident alien here because my home
is Heaven. God is my King. He is the ultimate authority. It doesn't matter
who is in office, ultimately God is where the buck stops.

I refuse to succumb to the gloom and doom around me. God is in control. He
knows who's going to win the election. It doesn't change a thing. God is God
today. He will be God tomorrow. Nothing happens without Him allowing it. Put
your trust in Jesus. Not in America, not in the Constitution, not in a man
or woman. Jesus is the answer for the world.

The Sweetest Thing

Lately, God and I have been sort of on the outs. I've been sorta not talking to Him. I know, silly. There are some things that He wants me to deal with that I don't feel like dealing with. Plus, I'm kinda sorta ticked that He hasn't been answering my prayers--at least not in the way that I think He should answer them.

I said in another blog that I went on a retreat of sorts with some ladies from an old study I used to attend. I seriously didn't want to go, but one of my friends kept asking me if I would go and I finally relented. I am so glad I did.

The first couple of nights, I did nothing--I didn't read my Bible, didn't pray, didn't talk to the Lord. On our first night there, one of the ladies told me they'd seen dolphins earlier that day. I felt a little twinge. I've never been one of those "dolphin" people, but I love to see dolphins in their natural habitat. I've never seen them up close, though. It's never been a thing that I've asked God for, but still it was an unspoken desire.

Sunday morning the Lord woke me up quite early and told me He and I needed to talk. I got up and walked to the beach. We had a long talk about some of the things that I know have been holding back our relationship. I felt something break in me, and I haven't felt God's presence like that before. It wasn't an overwhelming thing, it was just gentle and sweet. I walked along the beach and picked up a few more shells along the way. Afterwards, I found my way back to the gazebo and just sat to listen to the ocean. It's one of my favorite things to do. It just gives me such a peace to listen to the rushing waves and look at the ocean's vastness. It never ceases to fill me with wonder at God's creative genius.

Anyway, I sat there engrossed in my thoughts, and just feeling wrapped in God's love when something caught my eye. I looked up and there were dolphins! Three of them and they were maybe 50 feet from the shore! I've never seen them so close in all my life. I watched them as they swam away. Moments later, I saw three more and these were even closer. Again, I'm not one of those people that worships the creation, but that moment was just so awe inspiring and tender. It was just so beautiful to watch these creatures in their element. There were only three other people on the beach, and we all just stopped for that moment. It was like we all held our breath just watching this scene. It was, for lack of better words, just the coolest thing I've ever seen!

In that moment, I was so broken that God so gives us the desires of our heart. It was just such a sweet tender moment from my Father! To think that He loves me so much to answer a simple desire that I hadn't even expressed to Him! How much He loves me. It's like He stopped the universe just for me, for just a small moment in time. I could just hear Him saying, 'I have loved you with an everlasting love.' I don't think I can ever look at Him the same.

My Isaac

I've never been married. There are times when that's ok, and there are times when it's not. Lately, it's not been ok, and I've been really struggling with this whole singleness thing. I gotta admit, I really don't like being single. Let me rephrase that: I'm not always content with being single. I admire other singles who have learned to be content, but I'm just not there yet.

Ever since I can remember, I've always wanted to be married. I came close years ago with my daughter's father, but I know marrying him would've been a huge mistake. So I chose to stay single for what I thought would be a short time. And now here I am 16 years later, at age 39 and still not married. And not dating. And I'm wondering, 'What is wrong with this picture?' Almost all of my friends are either married or in serious relationships. I haven't even been on a date since November--and that was the first one I'd been on in many years. When my daughter became ill, I put dating totally out of my mind; I needed to concentrate on getting her well. But now that she's on the road to recovery, my single status nags at me.

I guess I could accept my single state if I didn't believe that God has someone for me. I believe that with all my heart, and I've spent the last maybe 10 years preparing myself--or at least trying to. My problem is that I am impatient. I'm like the kid at Christmas; I can't wait to open my gifts. Lately, I've been praying about being single. 'Why, God? What's the matter with me? Why hasn't this happened yet? What am I doing wrong?' He didn't directly answer my questions, instead He gave me something to ponder: 'Your desire to marry needs to be your Isaac.' So not what I wanted to hear.

For those unfamiliar with the Isaac story, it's one of the most profound stories in the Bible. In the book of Genesis, we're shown a special friendship that God has with a man named Abram. Abram lives in a pagan society, yet he serves and has a unique friendship with The One True God. God tells Abram a few things: 1) Abram will be the father of many nations, 2) through Abram, God will establish a covenant with the world, 3) God would give Abram’s descendents the land of Canaan, 4) God changed Abram's name, which means 'Father of one' to Abraham--'Father of many'. Sounds pretty cool except there's a couple of teeny little issues. For one thing, Abraham is 99 when God tells him this, and his wife Sarai (name changed to Sarah) is nearly 90 and barren. But the cool thing about Abraham is even though he was incredulous, he believed that God would bless him with a son.

And God did, but it was about 19 years later. Along the way, Abraham and Sarah tried to 'help' God by basically getting a surrogate to give Abraham a son, Ishmael. Not such a great idea. In fact, it was a very bad idea; one with far reaching repercussions that we in the modern age are still dealing with. At any rate, God specifically told Abraham that Sarah would have a baby boy. Isaac was the son God promised Abraham--through this son and his descendents, God would establish his covenant with the world. While Abraham loved Ishmael, Isaac was the Promised Son. Isaac was the miracle baby. At this point, the story gets interesting. God tests Abraham:

1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!"
"Here I am," he replied.

2 Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about." Gen 22:1-2 NIV

Yikes! Did we read that right? God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, his beloved son--the PROMISED son? Yes, God wanted Abraham to sacrifice his son. The amazing part of this story--even moreso than Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his only son; even moreso than Isaac's willingness to be sacrificed; even moreso than the ram in the bush--is that this story serves as a foreshadowing of Christ's redemptive act on the cross. If that doesn't give you goosebumps, I don't know what will. I've always understood that verse in context to Christ's death on the cross, and subsequent resurrection. What was harder for me was putting it into context of my own life. What exactly is God saying to me? I am a person who loves to know what words mean, and I felt to understand sacrifice, I needed to look the word up. Turns out there are several meanings:

1: an act of offering to a deity something precious; especially : the killing of a victim on an altar
2 : something offered in sacrifice
3 a : destruction or surrender of something for the sake of something else b : something given up or lost

4. Forfeiture of something highly valued for the sake of one considered to have a greater value or claim.
a. Something so forfeited.
5.
a. Relinquishment of something at less than its presumed value.
b. Something so relinquished.


The one that caught my attention was number 4: 'Forfeiture of something highly valued for the sake of one considered to have a greater value or claim.' There is so much to consider in that one definition. In plain English it means to give up something valuable for something even more valuable. Wow. In thinking of salvation, Christ put on humanity, then gave up his life for ours; giving us redemption. Phillipians 2:5-8 says,

'5Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

6Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

7But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

8And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.' NIV

So humbling. Christ gave up the majesty of glory to come in human form to save me. He gave his very life for me--what will I give up for him? Lately, I’ve been thinking about marriage all the time. It has, in fact, become an idol of sorts. I don’t purposely idolize marriage, but like that kid at Christmas, I am so giddy with the anticipation of receiving my gift, my promised gift, that it’s all I can do to not think about it.

But, I believe God wants to know from me—do I want the gift more than the Giver? Will I love the gift more than the Giver? As a parent, I can totally understand this. I love my daughter, and I give her the things she needs. There are times, though, when I want to give her special things as a reward for a job well done, or sometimes because I know she’ll appreciate the gift. But many times I give her things simply because I love her and I love to see the excitement on her face when I give her something she’s really wanted, but didn't expect to get.

My daughter is almost 16 and will be driving soon (a real nightmare for me). She’s already asked me for a car. Suppose I give her a car, and she is so excited, jumping up and down with joy. ‘Oh, thank you Mom! It’s just what I wanted! I’m so happy!’, she’d exclaim. That would be wonderful, right? Of course it would. But let’s suppose that eventually she begins to only think of the car. She’s tooling around town everywhere in the car all day and all night. She won’t let me ride in the car—won’t even let me touch it. The car becomes her number one and only concern. How would I feel about that? What will happen with our relationship? What do you think I would do with the car?

I think in some way, that’s the point God is trying to make with me. God wants to give us gifts. Psalms 21:2,6 says:

2You have granted him the desire of his heart and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah

6 Surely you have granted him eternal blessings and made him glad with the joy of your presence.

Further, Psalms 37:4 says, ‘Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.’ NIV. God wants to bless us; he just doesn’t want the blessing to take his place in our hearts. He is also a jealous God—he must be number one in our lives.

'Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.' Exodus 34:14. It is a slap in God’s face for us to cherish the blessings that he’s given us, more than we cherish him.

That’s not what I want. I truly desire to make God my first priority every day. And sadly, I don’t always do that. I get carried away with the cares of life, and my own wants and desires. My prayer is that I let nothing—not a job, man, money, family—anything come before my God. Even if that means sacrificing my own heart’s desires for the sake of the Cross.