Author: Paul Nordman

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Time in the Hands of a Faithful God

I believe it was the curmudgeonly humorist Andy Rooney who originally quipped, “Life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes.” So true, so true. Just when we think time can accelerate no more, its passage — be it measured in days, weeks, months, or years — shifts into newfound gears of blinding speeds. For those who have traveled life’s journey with Christ, something remarkable happens as we near our end here: We view this life with greater clarity; we “get it,” or at least increasingly so. Then let me share a few personal perspectives that have emerged as my hair turns grayer. (Correlated, not causal.)

For years, I asked God to show me my purpose, only to discover my purpose is Him. He speaks, “Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”1 Could we possibly have greater meaning? Lord, may everything we are and everything we do be for Your glory.

Humbled by those who daily engage the suffering — whether poverty, persecution, or pain — my giving is becoming more joyful. Jesus’ words are dropping from my head to my heart: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”2 This is God’s doing, not ours, and it’s a process. Lord, may we be wise, generous and joyful stewards of our time, talent, and treasure.

Personally, I have not suffered much in this life, but as the time goes on, I see more clearly this hope: Though our struggles are real and difficult, they are finite and will soon give way to endless joy. In the words of Paul, who suffered much, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”3 Nearer draws the day of unimaginable glory. Lord, we long for that day. Sustain us, guide us and use us as we wait.

Then what about you? What Biblical understandings have deepened in your life the only way they could — through time in the hands of a faithful God? May we take time to ponder His transforming work in us, gain faith from His faithfulness, and live this life with purpose — to glorify God.

O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you.4. My times are in your hand.5 Amen.

1 Isaiah 43:6-7 ESV
2 Acts 20:35 ESV
3 Romans 8:18 ESV
4 Psalm 39:4-5 ESV
5 Psalm 31:15 ESV

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What Did You Expect?

“For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.” — Isaiah 64:3 NIV

My good friend, Mark, asked me a few weeks ago, “Has God ever answered a prayer in the way you thought he would?” I was glad he asked, and a bit relieved, for I had been mulling over the same thing in my own spiritual journey — that while God has faithfully answered my prayers, He has perhaps never done so exactly in the way I had anticipated, dreamed or, most laughably, suggested. “No,” I chuckled, “I cannot recall a time when He did.”

And you know what? I’m glad. For my ways are limited, short-sighted, and self-centered. But God’s ways? He speaks for Himself: “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”1 While we see matters through our own eyes and petition God accordingly, He understands them in infinite context and responds in ultimate wisdom. For instance, when Martha and Mary sent word to Jesus that their brother was sick,2 Jesus could have healed Lazarus remotely with merely a word, which was perhaps what the sisters were expecting. Instead, Jesus set out to their house two days later, after Lazarus had died. Said Martha upon Jesus’ arrival, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”3 Her expectation was that Jesus would heal Lazarus, but Jesus’ plan was to raise the man from the dead. Why? Because Jesus saw the matter through the lenses of eternal purpose: “This sickness . . . is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it,”4 He said. Indeed, this historic event has resounded to billions throughout two millennia hence. Moreover, it incited the unwitting priests of Jesus’ day to put Him to death, a death that would result in resurrection, both His and ours.

Solomon teaches us, “Just as you do not know the path of the wind, and how bones are formed in the womb of the pregnant woman, so you do not know the activity of God who makes everything.”5 When we expect God to answer our prayers a certain way, we can miss His higher, better response entirely and perhaps lose faith in His faithfulness. Instead, we do well to trust He will respond more gloriously than we will know on this side of eternity. So as we petition God in faith, let’s also trust His wisdom in response. Most likely, He will do “awesome things that we did not expect.”6

“Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!”7 Have Your way, Lord. I trust You. Amen.

1 Isaiah 55:9 ESV
2 John 11:3
3 John 11:21 NIV
4 John 11:4 NIV
5 Ecclesiastes 11:5 NASB
6 Isaiah 64:3 NIV
7 Psalm 66:20 NIV

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The Gift of Listening

From the Oscar-winning film, “Pulp Fiction”1 . . . 
Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman): In conversation, do you listen, or wait to talk?
Vincent Vega (John Travolta): I have to admit that I wait to talk, but I’m trying harder to listen.

My first Kairos Prison Ministry Weekend was in the Spring of 2009. Like all first-timers, I was nervous in the weeks leading up to the event, but by day two, Friday afternoon, I had become so excited and engaged that I was no longer thinking of the men in terms of inmate or outside volunteer. The atmosphere seemed as familiar and comfortable to me as any other gathering of friends, and by Saturday afternoon, I was amazed at the openness and joy in the room. I’d seen spiritual transformation before, but nothing like this. I thought to myself: “‘Listen, listen; love, love’ (the Kairos slogan) really works.”

Truly listening is truly loving. In his letter to early believers, the apostle James exhorted them, “Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.”2 How can we begin to love our neighbors as ourselves if we don’t take time to understand them? Moreover, the psalmist celebrates the liberty we experience when God lends His ear to us. “I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.”3 The 20th Century German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer said it this way: “God’s love for us is shown by the fact that God not only gives us God’s word, but also lends us God’s ear. We do God’s work for our brothers and sisters when we learn to listen to them. So often Christians, especially preachers, think that their only service is always to ‘offer’ something when they are together with other people. They forget that listenting can be a greateer service than speaking.”4

For most of us, selfless listening — effective listening — is sacrificial. We prefer to express ourselves, and when we do let others speak, perhaps we are, like the “Pulp Fiction” hitman, merely “waiting to talk.” But when, instead, we “try harder to listen,” our silence speaks with unmatched clarity. It says: “You matter. I care. Look up! There’s hope.”

Listening: it may be the greatest ministry to which God calls you today.

Father, You listen to my every prayer, even to the unarticulated cries of my soul. Grace me to listen selflessly to others, that they too would know the freedom, hope, and joy of being heard. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

1 Tarantino, Q. (1994). Pulp Fiction. Miramax.
2 James 1:19 ESV
3 Psalm 116:1-2 ESV
4 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together (London: SCM, 1972), 75. https://au.thegospelcoalition.org/article/loving-people-by-listening/