Just Shelf It!

A suicide . . . a gifted saint who feels betrayed by the death of friends and no longer wants to go to church . . . What is going on here???? Where does this loss of hope come from? Let's see if we can figure out our enemy's current MO (modus operandi) . . .

Life is full of paradoxes, including the lives of Christians. Paul wrote of us who know the Lord, "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed" (2 Corinthians 4:8-10). Then why do we see Christians succumbing to loss of hope, some turning to worldly vices, some even to harming themselves? How can this be? What is nourishing this defeatism?

A verse that Auntie Trinie loved and introduced me to is Isaiah 35:8, ". . .The way of holiness . . . shall be for those the wayfaring men (those of us who are traveling through this life), though fools (what I feel like much of the time, since God has to redirect me time and again before I finally "get" what He's telling me), shall not err therein." Even fools--even babes in faith--if they look to Jesus, can stay on God's highway. That is God's perfect plan for us.

This wonderful passage promises that the Lord will keep us on the right road. Incredibly, I lived the reality of this truth even before Auntie showed me this amazing passage.

After I had my wonderful encounter with Jesus at the age of 16 (after two years of struggling with my child's faith), right off, with no one around to mentor me but the Holy Spirit, I knew in my heart of hearts that just as I had received forgiveness of my sins from God through His Son Jesus, I needed to forgive those against whom I held a grudge. Some were easy to forgive, but one was definitely not. That someone was my mother.

Of Grandma's three children, my mom was the "black sheep." To her credit, no matter how far away she wandered from the things of God, she never left off giving her tithe. There was an ingrained recognition of God in her that kept her faithful in this area of worship and also kept her from falling into total depravity. Other than that, though, her life was a mess.

It serves no good purpose to give a list of mom's shortcomings. Basically, she was hurting and instead of turning to God she turned to worldly means of anesthetizing the pain. Unfortunately, my brother and I were casualties of war in this spiritual battle. Unlike our cousins, who grew up in much more stable and blessed households, my brother and I grew up surrounded by strife, want, and a twisted perception of Who God is. Because of this, I laid my two years of painful wandering away from God at mom's feet. My heart could not forgive her for being the catalyst of my years away from God. Yet, as a child of God, I knew I had to.

I opted for honesty with the Lord. There was an innate knowing that He valued transparency over a declaration of forgiveness that was basically a lie, not being heartfelt (see Psalm 51:6).

"Lord," I said, "You know that I can't forgive mom. I have tried but just can't seem to manage it. So I am putting these hard feelings towards her on a shelf and asking You to work on me and help me forgive her from the bottom of my heart. I can't do it on my own. I am asking You to help me." So I laid my unforgiveness on a virtual shelf and continued walking with the Lord.

I began going to church, reading my Bible, praying. And God proved Himself faithful. As I yielded myself to the things that would make me grow in Him, He began working on my stubborn (and wrong) attitude. And one day, I looked at my virtual shelf and--surprise! The hate and animosity towards my mom was gone, nowhere to be found! God had answered my prayer, helping me to do what I could not do alone!

And so began a life of using a virtual shelf on which to lay things I did not know how to handle or that confused me, as I waited for God to open my eyes about whatever it happened to be. Despite my ignorance in other areas, God in His mercy showed me how to wait on Him for answers I could not get on my own. I can't tell you how many times this has worked, helping me over the hump of puzzling goings-on in this life. Because I know in whom I have believed and continue to recognize Him as my Lord (2 Timothy 1:12), this principle has kept me from falling into the pit of despair many a time.

And, I am glad to say, I don't have an exclusive right to "putting it on the shelf." God has revealed this trick for triumph to other saints as well! My missionary friend, Dorothy Blodget, had a humble mobile home in Brownsville,Texas, from which she and her husband reached out to their churches and contacts in Mexico. How she wanted a "real" house! A fellow minister, who had once been a contractor, worked with her in designing a small home.

"Dorothy," her husband Bob told her, " we are not going to build that house. I don't want to have to tell one of our churches in Mexico, 'Sorry, this year we can't have the yearly minister's convention we usually host at your church because we spent all our money on building ourselves a nice house.'" "So," Dorothy told me, "I put that house on the shelf. If God wants us to build it later on down the road, fine. And if it stays on the shelf forever, fine." What a godly attitude! Instead of letting loss of hope turn her bitter, "putting it on the shelf" helped her yield her dreams to God. I am happy to report that a few years down the line, God moved on Bob and let him know that it would be fine to invest in a small home, the plans came off the shelf, and Dorothy got her dream home. A realization of a dream made all the sweeter because of waiting on God's timing.

In John 6, Jesus fed the five thousand. This served as a catalyst for men to try to make Jesus king by force. After all, what could be better than a slot machine king doling out whatever they needed???--bread, fish, with Jesus they could have the whole enchilada! When Jesus perceived this, he left to a mountain by himself and the disciples went by ship towards Capernaum.

Some exciting stuff happened with Jesus and the disciples at this point, but I want to skip to where they ended up on the other side of the sea. The people who wanted to crown Jesus king figured out where Jesus had gone and went after him.

When they came to Jesus, he read their mail. He said (paraphrased), "You came because I gave you stuff. What you should be concerned about is what God wants from you." They kept on talking back and forth until Jesus read them the riot act. He laid out the cost of following Him--they would have to eat the Bread of Life (Jesus, the Living Bread) and drink His blood. This, in a word, was NOT their cup of tea. The men who would make Jesus king were only interested in the freebies. God forbid they actually have to DO something to warrant them! So before you could blink twice, all the wannabe king worshipers disappeared. Only the twelve remained.

Jesus looked around (as if He didn't know, ha!), and asked, "Will ye also go away?"

Good ol' Peter was quick to answer. "Lord, to whom should we go? thou hast the words of eternal life." Ding, ding, ding! Peter is the winner--he had learned the shelf trick! He didn't "get" the eat the bread and drink the blood stuff yet--but he knew the most important thing--Jesus is Lord. He hung on to that truth, knowing the understanding of the rest would come later.

Don't understand something? Don't throw the baby out with the bath water! Put your question on that virtual shelf and wait . . . Because you know in Whom you have believed, a God Who is faithful, you can rest assured that when it's time for you to know and understand, He will reveal it to you. The trick to keep your faith and hope intact is to remember Him Who Is our Savior, no matter what troubles come our way. When we forget to keep on trusting Him, forget to put our questions "on the shelf," that is when we end up with a recipe for disaster.

Which is why I cordially invite you to come on board the Put-It-On-the-Shelf Club! Members of this club (membership free!!!) don't let doubts about something cripple their walk with God. Life gives you a one-two-knock-out punch? Don't despair! Put your eyes on Jesus! In the fullness of time He will right every wrong and explain what we don't yet understand.

Let's get our eyes off of people (who, no matter how godly, at some point in time will not live up to our expectations) and things that disappoint and keep them on Jesus!

"A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it (defeatism) shall not come nigh thee" (Psalm 91:7).

"Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2).