People Get Ready . . . There's a Train a Coming

The New Year is almost here. It's time for resolutions, commitments and vows of restoration. 2008 is an opportunity to make new decisions to change our ways and to take off on new ventures

This week I heard a sermon by Alistair Begg that seemed to affirm my thinking about the New Year. Begg said, "God gives you the ticket for the next leg of your journey only after you start the journey."


Alistair used the example of Corrie Ten Boom who, as a young woman, planned to take a trip by train in several months. Corrie told her father about the trip and asked him to purchase the train ticket in advance. He did not seem to be in a rush as his daughter was. So he put off buying the the ticket.

Corrie reminder her Dad about the ticket almost every day. By nagging her father it appeared she did believe he would buy the ticket. She wanted the ticket in her possession before she embarked on the trip.

Finally, the day of the trip arrived. On the day she actually began her expedition, Corrie's father gave her the ticket.

Begg commented, "God only gives you the ticket you need after you started on your journey."

If you want 2008 to be a year of stagnancy, my best advice is to wait. That's right. Do nothing. Just wait and you will enjoy 365 days of inertia. You will spend the new year, looking for a ticket, asking the Lord to give you that ticket in order to make that journey into a new career or to fulfill a dream you've been talking about for almost a decade.

You know what I mean. Each year you hear yourself say, "This is the year, God is going to hand me that ticket. This is the year!"

Let's try something really new this year.

I suggest you spend the year hanging around train stations . . . without a ticket. What do I mean?

If you want to change your career, spend this year researching that new occupation; interview people already in the career you want to enter; arrange some way where you can offer your time volunteering to help in an office where you can see your dream job in action; and live as though you are already in the job and see if it is a good fit.

In other words, begin the journey before you get the ticket.

If God is who He says He is. He will be on time to give you that ticket. However, you have to spend time hanging around the station.

Whatever it is you want from the Lord, do your homework. Become an expert on a town or state you want to move to. Become as smart as a doctor on an illness you want to see God being healing to.

If you're interested in a person for a possible relationship, find out who he or she is. Tear down the walls of illusion and fantasy. Ask around and check this potential mate out through the eyes of others. You might discover you really don't want to embark on any journey with that person. He may turn out to be a total dud!

The same is true for financial decisions or making major purchases such as a house or new car. Do your homework. Don't settle for anything else but the real thing. Don't make a sour deal into a good one just because you really want it.

So, let's agree to not spend the year waiting for a ticket. Begin the journey.

Even if there's no train in the station, it is going to come. Yes, you'll need a ticket. But once the train pulls into the station, be sure this train in headed in the direction that matches the desire of your heart. God will honor your choice to step on the train, knowing you did your research and made a wise choice. He will also honor your decision to not step on that train, knowing you're not operating out of impulsive emotions but out of wisdom and a solid trust in Him.

God does not push people onto trains nor in the path of oncoming trains. You've heard the Christian cliche: if you don't want to go to Africa to be a missionary, then that's the place God wants you to go. What rubbish! So when we speak of God giving us the desires of our heart as in Psalm 37:4, "Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart," are we to think He really means to say, "He will give you the desires of His own heart and discount your needs?"

Why do we play such games with God? He made us and He knows our talents, skills and passions. He works in accordance with the person He has made us to be. We are not robots or God's puppets. Trust Him that when you step on that train to your next destination, it will be a choice both pleasing to you and to Him.

My New Year's resolution? All aboard!!!!!

People Get Ready . . . There's a Train a Coming

Does God Ever Step Outside His Will?

I can hear it now. Blasphemy! How can you utter such words? Are you still a Christian, Louis? You've been in the ministry for over three decades. How could you?

Exactly my point. I've been in the ministry for almost half my life and I've seen it all. I've seen the best and I've witnessed the worst.

So once again, we ask, does God ever make mistakes? Are you ever truly disappointed with the way your life turned out . . . even though you believe you are in God's will?

To not admit we toy with this question is dishonest. We dare not tell anyone. We're afraid of what others might say. We fear the wrath of God. Yet deep in the recesses of our souls, my question reverberates with yours. Admit it.

It's a mental game, isn't it? Here are the rules. No matter what God allows in your life . . . no matter how bad your life ends up . . . and no matter how miserable you are, God is always right-His will is perfect-and you're always wrong to question Him.

Read the Word of God. Psalm 19:7 The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. Matthew 5:48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Sure, you can play around with the Hebrew and Greek so that they refer to God's completeness. Still . . . He is perfect. His will is always correct. . . right?

So stop thinking. Cease all your questioning and get on with your life. Stop complaining.

I can buy that response if I was an atheist. Ultimately I would be responsible for everything that occurs in my life, right? So who's your Daddy? No one. Not God. It's all me. It's life. It's circumstances. Stuff happens! The universe is indifferent to your happiness.

But I am not an atheist.

Here's our dilemma. We have to live in an imperfect universe; fractured people struggling with illness, undeserved suffering and financial woes surround us. Then I am supposed to say, "God's never wrong." Yet deep in my soul, there's this nagging question: Can I really stand behind God as I watch this mother bury her 14-year-old daughter killed in a senseless car accident?

For Christians it can be a one-way conversation. God allows bad stuff to take place and I cannot question Him. Something is not right with this picture.

I know all the prescriptions Christians write out for my disbelief: God allows suffering to accomplish His will, to mold our spiritual character, because of sin and disobedience, since we live in a cursed world and to ultimately give Himself glory when He delivers us . . . if He does.

I guess you can't do much better than these explanations. If you say all disappointment and suffering is our fault and all the blessings belong to God. That’s a cop out. It's circular reasoning. Here's the argument: God is perfect. Whatever He does is perfect. Imperfection is all around us and impacts our lives. Therefore, anything imperfect cannot be from God.

God is off the hook. We are left alone trying to figure this out. Very alone and scared. Yet I wonder if the problem is not really God but the way Christians represent God.

Christians feel they have to defend God so He always looks righteous and perfect. This is where we get into trouble. Does God need us to defend Him? If He allows cancer into the life of an infant, are you going to try to make up some cockamamie explanation because you must run in and save God from embarrassment? I stopped doing that a long time ago.

I was a pastor for many years. I reached a point where I looked at all the hurt and disappointment and could no longer try to explain God to people. He has to get His own defense attorney . . . Himself. I'd rather live with mysteries in the universe rather than offer someone a cliché about tragedies that come into their lives.

Perhaps the best explanation for those times when we wonder if God has stepped over His own boundary line is, "I really don't know why you're going through this horrific time." Rather than take the risk of saying something stupid and superficial, this is the better approach.

No, I do not believe God makes mistakes. But I don't believe it is up to us to front God with a reason or explanation for our suffering. Regardless of the insights offered to Job by his three friends, it was only when Job himself went toe-to-toe with the Lord that the patriarch received his answer. God's response was not too pretty, but at least it came from the Lord Himself. It's a lot better than a bunch of Biblical speculators starting each sentence with "Maybe God is trying to . . . or Maybe He is teaching you . . . When we remove the "maybes' from our spiritual vocabulary and wait on God to hear His voice, then we're cooking.

It's not that God makes mistakes; it's when we try to explain or defend Him we make Him look like He doesn't know what He's doing.

I would love to hear what you have to say. Maybe . . .

Does God Ever Step Outside His Will?