The Need for Grace

At a recent Bible study with some good friends where we were talking about some of the difficult situations that people we knew had gone through. We lifted up those we knew who had ongoing trials. At times like these, we feel sorrow at the pain and suffering that our friends are enduring and our faith in God's sovereignty drives us to seek him. We also follow the commandment in Galatians 6:2 to bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the Law of Christ; the One who extended grace, paid our sin debt and secured our eternal destiny.

As we prayed, the Holy Spirit gave me one of those light bulb moments. Without hardship, trials, pain, suffering, illness or loss--grace would not be needed. All too often, our "I got this" mentality caused us to surge off on our own heading into disaster; leaving a trail of sin and broken relationships as roadkill. Psalm 55:22 offers a much better approach--Cast your burden upon the Lord, and he will sustain you... God is the One whose got this covered!

2 Corinthians 9:8 says 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. God's grace is unleashed when we allow His strength to be made perfect in our weakness. Not only that, but our Father is guaranteeing we have all the resources we need and the outcome can be nothing but successful. We were created in His image (Genesis 1:26) and His overriding goal for our lives is to transform us into the image of Jesus Christ. His grace is always sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9).

The Desires of Your Heart

Even though its been a long time since I’ve blogged, I haven’t been wasting away in oblivion. When I was going through my divorce in 2012, my pastor encouraged me to push through the difficult times and focus on what Rick Benson will look like in 2014. As I reflect back on 2014, I see a Rick Benson who still has many flaws, but I also see a man who has made some remarkable changes as well.

I am married again to an amazing godly woman named Debra. The last thing I was looking for in 2012 was another relationship, but God always has a purpose and a plan. Psalm 37:4 says that God will give you the desires of your heart if you delight yourself in Him. Through all of the pain and difficulty I had to endure, I never once turned my back on God. I knew that somehow, someway, He was working all things for good.

I can honestly say that all I ever wanted in a wife was someone who would love the Lord with all of her heart and let His beauty shine through her. I wanted a wife who would love me, respect me and allow me to nurture and cherish her heart. I wanted a wife who love my daughter as if she was her very own child. I wanted a wife who understood her spiritual gifts and gave them freely without hesitation. I wanted a wife who would allow me to lead her spiritually, but would also challenge and encourage me to grow as well. 

Debra truly is a desire of my heart. Thank you, Lord!

Defiling the Temple

When reading the Gospels and observing the actions and hearing the words of Jesus, I am often drawn to His mercy, His grace, His healing and His forgiveness. Yet in Mark 11, I see something that makes our Lord very angry. Jesus and his disciples came to Jerusalem and entered the temple and observed what was essentially a big flea market. Pigeons instead of praise. Wares instead of worship. In righteous anger, Jesus overturned tables and kicked away the seats of those who were selling goods in the temple and kept others from coming in and doing the same (v. 15-16). Then in verse 17, He reveals what prompted His righteous anger--My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers. The money-changers were defiling the temple.

1 Corinthians 6:19 tells me that my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit; given to me by God and my body is not my own. So if my Lord was angry at how the money-changers defiled the temple, wouldn’t He likewise be angry at me if I choose to defile my temple—the temple of the Holy Spirit? Jesus called the temple a house of prayer. Doesn’t that same standard apply to my temple? At the very least, I should take care of my body, strive to be healthier, eat better (this is really hard!) and continually view my body as the place where God’s Spirit lives. But there is something more at stake here.

Mark 7:15 says that what defiles me is not what comes in from the outside, but rather what comes out of me. My thoughts. My words. My actions. The things that others observe in me.  I truly need the Holy Spirit living inside of me to help guide what comes out from me. John 15:26 refers to the Holy Spirit as the Helper and boy do I need help!

My ability to defile the temple is great so my desire to rid the temple of things that defile it needs to be as passionate as the Lord’s was. Time to flip some tables and kick some chairs!

The Eyes, Ears and Face of the Lord

I know when I reach out to the Lord in prayer, I want to be heard. I want God to see that I recognize my need for Him and my desire to cast my cares upon Him. I want Him to lift the heavy yoke of my burdens and replace it with His yoke which is light. I want Him to strengthen me, help me and uphold me with His righteous right hand. I want Him to respond with divine resources that only He can provide. I want Him to provide wisdom, clarity and direction as He aligns my thought with His.

1 Peter 3:12 says, For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. I need to have my thoughts, words and deeds on the path of His righteousness to be heard by Him. The verse that I use as the foundation for my writings—Matthew 6:33---says to seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness. If I want to unlock the vast storehouse of His blessings, I must seek righteousness that only comes from a right relationship with Him.

The flipside is when I do evil—when I sin—His face is turned against me. Not just His eyes and ears. God had to turn his face away from His only begotten Son as he bore the sin of the world because evil cannot co-exist with His goodness. This reminds me that I can’t allow unconfessed sin in my life if I want to experience His presence and the fullness of His blessing. The choice is mine.

Carrying Buckets

A good friend of mine whom I often turn to for godly advice and perspective once said to me, “Rick, God doesn’t need you to carry His bucket.” My dear friend was gently reminding me that God is still God and He doesn’t need my help to do God-sized tasks.

I can certainly look back on my life and point to times where I tried to operate in my own strength when Philippians 4:13 tells me I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. Or the times when I bore burdens that Psalm 55:22 told me to cast upon the Lord and He will sustain me. Or more times when I was weary and pressed on when Matthew 11:28-30 told me that He will give me rest for my soul if I take on his easy yoke and learn from Him.

God does call us to do certain things for His honor and glory. The tasks He has called us to do always require strength and sustenance that only he can provide. The tasks also require that we take time to pause and rest. And learn. But God never calls us to do things that He hasn’t equipped us to do. And that includes carrying His buckets.

Venting to God

King David wrote many of the Psalms. He is called a man after God's heart. He loved to sing praises and offer up worship to the Lord. Yet when I read the Psalms, here are some of the themes I see: fear (Psalm 69), disappointment (Psalm 74), longing (Psalm 85), depression (Psalm 88), confusion (Psalm 102), sorrow (Psalm 137) and anger (Psalm 140). This tells me several things about God. One, He is intimately aware of our pain and our struggles. Two, He allows pain and heartaches into our lives to help us see our desperate need for Him. And finally, He desires for us to express our pain and sorrow to Him so that He can pour out his mercy and grace to comfort and heal us.

With my voice I cry out to the LORD; with my voice I plead for mercy to the LORD. I pour out my complaint before him; I tell my trouble before him.When my spirit faints within me, you know my way! In the path where I walk they have hidden a trap for me. Look to the right and see: there is none who takes notice of me; no refuge remains to me; no one cares for my soul. I cry to you, O LORD; I say, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.” Attend to my cry, for I am brought very low! Deliver me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me! Bring me out of prison, that I may give thanks to your name! The righteous will surround me, for you will deal bountifully with me.
(Psalm 142 ESV).

David wrote the Psalm while hiding in a cave from persecution. He cried out to the Lord. He knew he couldn't handle what he was facing without divine assistance. He knew the loneliness and desperation of his situation. He knew he was no match for his oppressors. But he also had rock-solid faith that God would deliver him and he was ready to praise his name. This is what someone who is after God's heart does.

Repressing our feelings keeps us in emotional bondage. Feeling our feelings and turning them over to God brings freedom. Go ahead and vent to God. It's okay. He knows. He cares. He can handle it. And He will.

When God's Wrath Is Your Comfort

A great pearl from John Piper that help us focus on the One who rights the wrongs:

"All of you have been wronged at one time or another. Most of you, probably, have been wronged seriously by someone who has never apologized or done anything sufficient to make it right. And one of the deep hindrances to your letting that hurt and bitterness go is the conviction — the justified conviction — that justice should be done, that the fabric of the universe will unravel if people can just get away with horrible wrongs and deceive everyone. That is one of the hindrances to forgiveness and letting grudges go. It’s not the only one. We have our own sin to deal with. But it is a real one. We feel that just to let it go would be to admit that justice simply won’t be done. And we can’t do it. So we hold on to anger, and play the story over and over again with the feelings: It shouldn’t have happened; it shouldn’t have happened; it was wrong; it was wrong. How can he be so happy now when I am so miserable? It is so wrong. It is so wrong!

This word in Romans 12:19 is given to you today by God to lift that burden from you. “Never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God.” What does this mean for you? Laying down the burden of anger, laying down the practice of nursing your hurt with feelings of being wronged — laying that down — does not mean there was no great wrong against you. It does not mean there is no justice. It does not mean you will not be vindicated. It does not mean they just got away with it. No.

It means, when you lay down the burden of vengeance, God will pick it up.

This is not a subtle way of getting revenge. This is a way of giving vengeance to the one to whom it belongs. It is taking a deep breath, perhaps for the first time in decades, and feeling like now at last you may be free to love. I long so much for you to know the freedom to love."