Live Now
This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it. (Ps 118:24)
When I first became a Christian in the Navy, this verse made up one of my favorite songs. It had parts. The guys sang, “this is the day.” And the women followed with, “this is the day.” And so on. It was very cool.
The point of the song fit with all the other things I was working on at the time. I wanted to live in the Navy, with the Navy, with a good and godly attitude toward what they passed along to me. I mentioned that I had a blast in the Navy, and I did, but what I didn’t mention was that, at times, it was difficult to “put up” with the Navy way of life. I really needed verses like this one and these:
“Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!” (Php 4:4)
“rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer;” (Rom 12:12)
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Th 5:16–18).
Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles! Laud Him, all you peoples! (Ps 117:1).
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy (1 Pe 2:9–10).
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. (Rom 8:28)
I still remember one day, during one of those emergencies, trying to run through a hatch and hitting the little bone on the top of my shoulder on the hatch. I can’t even begin to tell you how much it hurt. It made my whole body go numb. That thing where the light begins to go out hit me and I all but dropped to my knees in pain. Then out of my mouth popped, “Praise the Lord!” I was so surprised that that was what came out that I almost forgot the pain in the thrill that I hadn’t cursed God and died.
The thrill was because we had been working on being conscious of being in the presence of God all the time and receiving whatever came to us as a gift from him. And here I was with the first response to incredible pain being a praise to him. Then, of course, the pain came right back and I couldn’t lift my arm over my head for several minutes. And the emergency required that I get back to work. But in it all, I was a practicing, living, and joyful Christian man.
That was over 40 years ago and I’m still working to be that same man, only more so. And I’m inviting you all to join me in walking with God with everything in you.
Put away the cares of what you are/were used to, or thought you were used to, the normal life, and get on with Jesus. Doing this requires that you lay down your life (what you thought was your life), take up your cross, and follow hard after Jesus. But you need to know that “lay down your life” means stop thinking you’re in charge of anything. It means to die to your being god of your life. You aren’t and never really have been. Genesis 3:5, “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” was a lie and continues to be a lie. You aren’t and never have had your eyes opened and you aren’t like God and you have no idea what good and evil is. Satan continues to lie to us and we continue to believe him. On the other hand…
Jesus is Lord and always has been. When you realize that and change your mind, thoughts and your actions (repent), joy will flood into your life and you will be free. Really free.
Does this mean I’m saying that life isn’t really happening; like some kind of Zen or Buddhist thing? No!!! I’m not. My shoulder still hurt like the dickens. My wife still died. My friends still let me down. Life still happens and happened. What changed was my trust in myself to “fix” it all and my belief that it had anything to do with me. It never did. It was always about God and his world.
With regard to hard things, we don’t pretend they aren’t happening. We do what God calls us to do in those situations while praising him and rejoicing in him. If you need to leave your abusive husband, leave (for a short time; 1 Cor 7:11). Give him to God to do with him what God promises to do (Deut 32:35). Haven’t you noticed that nothing you’ve tried has worked or made any difference? Give him to God and keep giving him to God. And pay attention to living in front of God like a godly woman is supposed to.
If your wife is a handful and a nag and always on your case, give her to God. Haven’t you noticed that what you’ve been doing isn’t making anything better? In fact, things continue to get worse. So, do something different. Run to God, give your life to him. Then give your wife’s life to him. First, apply all those verses we applied back in the Navy days, and then do what he’s called you to do with your wife. Then when you see that look in her eyes and hear those words coming out of her mouth, you can respond with “Praise the Lord” and mean it. No matter what kind of woman she is being, you be a man, a man of God.
I hope this helps.