Day 5

The Story of Stuff (Philippians 4:11)

Perhaps I should’ve done more to prep you for this fast. We worked hard to set up the why and the what of it, right? And we’ve celebrated many of the benefits of fasting by now. That fasting is a fruitful enterprise is unquestioned—this WILL help you. O but can I get a witness that sometimes the Lord Christ helps us a lot by allowing us to get hurt a little? O if you know where I’m going you ought to go ahead right now and say amen!

What I mean is this—in seasons of fasting and prayer often the Lord Jesus deals with us and speaks to us in ways we were unable to hear before that season. Now we must reckon with the truth here. It is NEVER the case that God is not speaking to us. He is always speaking! The problem is we are not always listening to that still, small voice of the Lord. This reminds me of the story of Jesus and the woman with the issue of blood. There was a throng of people around Jesus. Imagine what it’d look like if Justin Bieber showed up at the mall with a bunch of teenage girls. Yeah that’s what this looked like. All the people are pressing in, literally, on Jesus. They want to be healed no doubt. They want Jesus to bless them. They want something. So there are plausibly dozens of folks grabbing after the Lord like fat kids on cake (I hope that’s okay to say—being a fat kid myself and all). 

And you’ll remember that moment when Jesus says to His disciples—someone touched me. The disciples are thinking, “umm…Lord, EVERYONE is touching you!” Jesus responds, “No this time it’s different. Someone touched me because I can sense that power has gone out of me.” The story continues as Jesus turns to this sickly woman who desperately reached for Jesus for healing. And she got it. 

Now that’s the point of the story. But I can’t help but think about how Jesus was right there. All these people were touching Him. But no one REALLY touched him but that one woman. Ever felt like that? Like you just can’t touch Jesus? You just can’t hear what He’s saying? Well I think the issue is not that Jesus isn’t speaking. I think the issue for us is the same as all those other people who didn’t reach him that day—The rest of our life is just way too loud. You see Jesus is speaking right now. But sometimes our life can be too loud. Our situations on the job are too loud. Our marital issues are too loud. Our financial worries are too loud. Our lives are too loud. That’s why we fast. To turn down the volume of the other voices so that God’s voice becomes the most pronounced in our hearts and lives. 

Back to my point here. I can only imagine that Jesus is saying some really great things to you during this fast. I love you! It’s going to be an awesome year! Hey I want you to grow in this area…and so on. But are there some things Jesus is saying that is hard to hear as well? For some of us Jesus is saying, “I need you to show up a little better in your marriage.” For others He is saying, “Hey it’s time to get healthy.” He’s saying, “Time for you to get involved at Southwest. They need you!” O boy! 

But sometimes He says other things. Things that are hard to hear. Things that we’d be prone to ignore. And those things hurt us a little at first. But when he hurts us a little, he’s trying to help us a lot. For those of you for whom Jesus is saying, “Hey there’s some stuff in your life I need you to do without…”, I want to encourage you. Sometimes Jesus subtracts before He adds. Sometimes Jesus takes away before He gives away. And often the Lord will detach our hearts to some things we’re carrying that we also enjoy in order to make room for some things He longs for us to carry that we truly need. 

Paul said whether He’s given or taken stuff away he learned that whatever he was doing was for his good. So whatever season it was he found a way to be content not in the stuff itself and whether it was being taken away or given, but in the one who holds all stuff together. Jesus is His name.

Keep Listening

Ricky