Tag: A Word for Wednesday

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How God Draws Us Near

Our high school gym teacher was a former Marine Corps drill instructor. He drew me out and grew me up a bit, for which I’ve always been grateful. One Michigan October day, he divided our class into two teams for an outdoor tug-o-war. Between the competing sides was a ditch, about eight feet wide and mid-thigh deep with water. At the teacher’s order, we all strained mightily to drag the other team into the water, and my side eventually prevailed. As a consequence for losing, the other team had to run back and forth across the ditch four times. And the prize for the winners? We only had to make the round trip twice. To me it was fun, but not everyone felt that way.

Jesus taught us that God draws us to Himself. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him,”1 He said to His antagonists. We think of Him gently wooing us and us gladly following His call, but in reality, the process is more like a tug-o-war. The Greek word translated “draw” connotes great effort and intentionality. It is the same word used to depict the disciples straining to “haul” in a net full of fish, and it is used elsewhere to describe the apostles being “dragged” before the authorities. So how does God draw/haul/drag us to Himself? By any means possible. If it takes affliction to drag us, then He will afflict us. “Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up,”2 exhorted Hosea. If it takes disaster to haul us to Him, then God will work though disaster, as spoken through Joel: “Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.”3 And in all circumstances, it is the persevering kindness of God that ultimately draw us to Him. “Do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance,”4 asked Paul, rhetorically.

If you are reluctant to draw near to God, know this: the God of all creation loves you and wants you in His presence. If you have loved ones still straining in an unwinnable tug-o-war against God, know this: He loves them even more than you do; He draws them in love.


“I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you out with kindness.” —Jeremiah 31:3 NASB

Father, You are patient and kind with us. Thank You for drawing us, even when we resist You. Grace us to see the truth of Your love, that we would rejoice in Your presence. In Christ we pray. Amen.

1 John 6:44 ESV
2 Hosea 6:1 ESV
3 Joel 2:13 ESV
4 Romans 2:4 NIV

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The Great Grace of Giving

Femi is a college student from Nigeria pursuing his degree here in Columbus. He asked me to mentor him, so we meet weekly to discuss real-life issues within the context of God’s Word. Femi has learned much, and I’d have to say he has influenced me, as well. Take giving, for example. “When it comes to giving and receiving gifts,” my young friend recently shared, “I’m always happy either way, but giving makes me happier—I know I’ve been a blessing to someone.” Femi has experienced what Jesus promised: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”1 Perhaps you have encountered the same. Yet Femi also confessed the tension inherent in giving: “Giving requires grace, because sometimes it is difficult; there are other things you want to do with that money. Giving is not by my strength, but by God’s grace.”

God is gracious by nature, and in lovingkindness He pours out His favor on us, not as our due, but as His gift. He loves to give grace, and we love to receive it. Yet only recently did I come to realize that giving is a form of grace; it is divine favor extended to us. Writing to Corinthian believers, Paul posited the impoverished Macedonians as exemplars of giving. “We want you to know . . . about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.”2 Without two denarii to rub together, these humble believers yet prevailed upon the apostles, “begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints.”3 They humble us still today.

So how is giving a form of grace? Our generosity yields Kingdom impact. Paul continues, “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.”4 In our heart of hearts, isn’t this what we want—fruitful lives of meaning? Moreover, God’s grace of giving ultimately returns glory to Him, for those whose needs are met “will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution.”5 This is what happens when we give in grace. Yet maybe giving is for you a growth area, as it is for me. If so, we pray together . . .

Father, transform our minds, that we would see giving not in terms of our temporary worldly loss, but Your eternal Kingdom gain. May we receive Your great grace of giving, and walk in it with wisdom, faith, and joy. Amen.

1 Acts 20:35
2 2 Corinthians 8:1-2
3 2 Corinthians 8:4
4 2 Corinthians 9:8
5 2 Corinthians 9:13

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The Promises of God amid the Tragedies of Life

My brother and I awoke one Sunday morning to commotion in the hallway below. Hurrying down the winding staircase, we saw before us our father lying on a stretcher, suffering a heart attack. Mom told us, “I’m going to the hospital. Go upstairs and pray.” So there we sat in our bedroom, Eric at age nine and me at age seven, praying every way we knew how, that Dad would live. When my mother returned, we ran to her. “How is he?” we asked. “He’s dead,” she replied. Our world changed that day.

It can be difficult to reconcile the promises of God with the tragedies of life. I had been taught to trust that God hears our prayers and answers them, yet when it came to the most important plea in a child’s life, my ask went unfulfilled. Afterward, though I petitioned in hope, there was often an accompanying element of anxiety and doubt, especially when praying for healing. Then one day beamed a glimmer of light—a Biblical event shining clarity into my soul. It was the story of three exiled Hebrews brought before the Babylonian king for not worshiping an image he had made. Threatened with a furnace for noncompliance, they answered him, “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”1 There it was—both faith in God’s power and submission to God’s sovereignty. God wields His power within His larger plan; neither negates the other. Didn’t Jesus, facing torture and sacrificial death, express the same in Gethsemane? “My Father,” He pleaded, “if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.”2 If Jesus subjected His will to God’s sovereign purpose and plan, can we do likewise? Yes, we can. For He answers our prayers with love, power and wisdom that exceed our own.

Epilogue. For decades it seemed to me that death had consumed my father’s life that July morning in 1965, and with it, our family happiness. Yet once more it was Scripture showing me the opposite, for as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, we long to “clothed . . . with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.”3 Death need not consume our life, for in Christ life swallows up our death. We live in this glorious hope.

Father, thank You that you hear us when we pray; we know that You always do.4 We choose this day to trust in Your power and submit to Your sovereignty. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer. Amen.

1 Daniel 3:16-17 NIV [emphasis added]
2 Matthew 26:390 NASB [emphasis added]
3 2 Corinthians 5:4 NIV [emphasis added]
4 John 11:41-42