Facing the Facts

Tennis Player

My nearly 100-year-old mother-in-law and I have been watching the US Open. Mom played tennis until she was 80, and enjoys watching it on television. Friday night Rafa Nadal, our favorite, lost the first set. It looked as if there was little hope for him. After the match Nadal was asked how he turned things around. He answered that he saw that his plan to keep attacking del Potro’s backhand just wasn’t working, and knew he had to do something. In other words, he had to face the facts that if he continued as he was going he would lose. Nadal changed tactics and came out the winner.

What does one do though if you’re in a situation, and you face the facts that there’s nothing you can do? You’ve looked the problem square in the face, haven’t buried your head in the sand, but there is no plan that will work. For instance, you face a chronic illness

Chronic Illness

where the doctor says, “we’ve run out of options;” you have financial problems that are too great to overcome; your adult child is in trouble but you have no control over him? In other words, it’s hopeless, nothing will work, it’s just an impossible situation.

Let’s look for a minute at Romans 4:18-21 (NIV). Abraham was given a promise from God in Genesis 12. He promised Abraham a land, a people (nation) and to bless others through him. Abraham believed God.

“Without weakening in his faith, he faced the facts…” God had promised him a son so a nation could come from him. He checked his body and faced the fact that he couldn’t father a child. He was almost 100 years old! Then he looked across the table and saw

Abraham and Sarah

Sarah. She had been infertile for decades…no hope there.” Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but (instead) was strengthened in his faith, and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.” 

I thought on that portion of the verse, ’did not waver through unbelief’, and questioned God. “But Lord,” I said, “he gave in to Sarah’s quick-fix idea to get a son through Hagar? Then later through fear Abraham told King Abimelech that Sarah was his sister which almost had a tragic result. Isn’t that wavering?” God said he didn’t waiver in his faith. He was human, and made mistakes. He fell prey to fear and to pride like we tend to in the heat of trials. But God says, “he didn’t waver through unbelief”!

 In Abraham’s response to this terrible testing of his faith there is something that spoke to me most. It was that Abraham faced the facts. He didn’t gloss over them and he didn’t ignore the facts. NO! Father Abraham faced the hopelessness of his body and Sarah’s body, and instead of stopping there and giving up, he looked at his

Abraham and Issac

God, my God, your God. He remembered who had called him out of Ur to a new land and how God cared for him. He relived in his mind that awe-filled evening when God passed between the heifer, goat, ram and birds a smoking firepot and blazing torch, and spoke his promise again to him.  And through Abraham’s belief God strengthened his faith, and persuaded him that He is a promise keeping God… and He is.

Ladies, take courage today, and face the facts of your hopeless situations. Call them just what they are. Don’t side step the problem, or try to put a good face on them. Face the fact that your situation is hopeless-- impossible. Don’t waver in your faith—tears are fine, getting angry with God is fine, having a donut when you’re so tired of carrying the heavy load is fine. Face the facts that you aren’t enough, and let God have the whole mess. God will strengthen your faith.  He will get the glory when he steps in and changes things, and fulfills every single word of his good promise to you. The fact is God wants and will get the glory when we believe him, and we will forever be singing his praises.  Amen

Susan Hamlin

Originally Presented to the Leaders Council

9-13-17

Are You Proud of Me?

My grandsons live in Nebraska so I often write to them or call. Last week I wrote Ashton, age 12, telling him how proud his Papaw and I are of him for being baptized. In their church, even youngsters have to stand and testify about what they believe about Jesus. Our daughter, Miriam, reported that Ashton, though fearful, had read in a clear, loud voice before his large church congregation. I was proud of him and told him so.

I’ve been asking the Lord over many days how he wants me to pray for Buck, my dear son-in-law, who has a new tumor in each lung and has just found out he has cancer.  I want God to be proud of me, pleased with me, not ashamed of me in this trial. In seeking God’s mind, I thought of Hebrews 11, the faith chapter. I was familiar with the long list of men and women who had faith: Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Gideon, Barak, Samson and more.  On first reading it seemed there were two categories of people; those who were delivered after their prayers, and those who weren’t.

Daniel in the lion's den

Exhibit #1: You recall Daniel, who, because he feared God, had jealous enemies. In vain they looked for fault in Daniel’s business, so these men attacked his worship of God, and baited the king into signing a law against worshipping God.  Knowing this, Daniel continued praying “as he had done previously,” (Daniel 6:10) and was thrown into the lions’ den.  A wonderful miracle happened that night, as God sent an angel to shut the lions’ mouths. There was deliverance for Daniel, and commendation from God for his faith.  

The stoning of Stephen

Exhibit #2: Stephen, a follower of Jesus, is identified in Hebrews 11 as ‘stoned to death’. Like Daniel, he was a man filled with the Spirit. When he had the opportunity, he told the large crowd of Jews that they had betrayed and murdered the Righteous One, the promised Messiah. With hands over their ears, and screaming furiously, the leading religious leaders stoned him to death. It was death for Stephen, and commendation from God for his faith.

The people listed in Hebrews 11 were commended for believing in God’s promises, but Hebrews says that none of these men and women of faith received what they were really looking for (Hebrews 11:39). And what was that? That God was proud of them, not ashamed of them? If not deliverance, or the miracle promised in Isaac, or Moses’ momentous leading of Israel through the Red Sea, what then?

I told the Lord I needed to know. We women need to know because we want our Father to be proud of us. We want what he wants, don’t we?  The answer is in Hebrews 11:16 and it is easy to see why God is so proud of them: 

“They desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.” (ESV)

He prepared for them

a city.

“They were after a far better country, a heavenly country.”  (MSG)

Miriam and Buck have three boys, soon to be 12, 10, and 6. Wouldn’t the Lord want them to have a father?  Perhaps… and he gives me faith to believe Him for that. What are your deepest needs, hardest trials today? Are you looking for deliverance, healing, help out of deep financial trouble? God is willing and able to give those answers.  

But what if he doesn’t?  We can still be sure that if we consider ourselves strangers here, like the men and women of faith did, we’ll be women who look more toward eternal things. We’ll look ahead to the better country God has prepared for us, for our beloved children, and grandchildren. It’s a far better place than anything we have on this fallen earth. That eternal perspective will change the way we think and act. And He will be proud of us, “not ashamed to be called our God”.

Susan Hamlin, Prayer Chairman
CBS Rutherfordton Day Class

Wear Your Life Jacket

I grew up living high on a bluff above the Intercoastal Waterway in Morehead City, North Carolina, with my Mom and Dad and three brothers. Fishing trips with my Dad and brothers are some of my fondest memories.

One summer day when I was eight years old, dad put the whole
family in our fourteen foot red motorboat, and took us offshore to do some serious deep sea fishing. There were huge swells that day, but Dad, being the seaman he was, kept the bow heading into them.

We threw out our baited hooks and, in no time, I saw Dad’s rod bend. Something had taken the bait. I looked over the side of the boat and saw the most beautiful fish ever. This wasn’t the Spanish Mackerel that we usually caught. No, this was a monsterous silver bullet shining through the blue water. . .King Mackerel!

Dad’s attention was drawn to the fight of reeling in the catch. He didn’t see the boat had gradually turned sideways to a swell. I looked up and shouted, “Dad, we’re going over!”

Tackle, parents, food, and kids spilled out into the sea. Since we had on our life jackets we quickly surfaced beside the overturned boat. Pop! There was Dad. Then Pop! there was Mom. Next David, Susan and Stephen all popped up. But where was baby brother, Mark? Dad didn’t hesitate as he dove under the boat, took hold of Mark’s legs, and released him from the air pocket where he was trapped. We were relieved when Mark popped up. He was safe.

For years I’ve read a Psalm almost every morning to get specific attributes of God that I can use for praise and adoration. Last week I was reading Psalm 35 where King David was asking the Lord to fight against those enemies who hated him, and were threatening to kill him. He says, “Let me hear you say, “I am your Salvation, your Savior from those too strong for you.” Dad cared for us kids by insisting we wear our life jackets when we went out in the boat . . . no ifs, ands, or buts. It was what saved us, and Dad was my hero.

God is our sweet heavenly Father who says, “I am your salvation; there is none like me, saving you from those too strong for you.”  Life is full of people and circumstances that are simply too strong for us: bills you can’t pay, a wandering child, chronic illness of a loved one, life without a spouse, the constant pull of the desires of the world, and lies from the evil one who’s out to destroy us. Each of us knows the strong enemies we face. Psalm 35 reminds us that these powerful waves will not overcome us. Jesus says, “I am your salvation, Savior from those too strong for you.” I’m your life jacket. Trust me. Put me on, and I will save you.

Susan Hamlin

Originally presented to the CBS-Rutherfordton Class Leadership Team