Reluctant Retiree

We have been spending a few days in Hot Springs, Arkansas. A lot of our time has been spent hiking trails in the Hot Springs National Park. Some of the trails are flat and easy. But since this national park is in the mountains, some of the trails feature steep inclines. When you are at the bottom of the inclines you have two choices. You can choose to turn around and go back to comfort. Or you can summon some courage and start up the trail. Although I am pretty old, I chose to go up the inclines. I was rewarded with beautiful scenery.

Caleb was 85 years old when he spoke these words to Joshua, “I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me, my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming. So now give me this hill country of which the Lord spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the Lord said.”

Caleb had already survived 40 years of wandering in the wilderness with his people. Then he fought with them for 5 more years. Now he wanted land for his family. He chose the most difficult land. It was hill country filled with giant people in well fortified cities. But Caleb had God’s promise that the land would be his. Although Caleb was still strong, he trusted that God’s strength would fulfill the promise. When we face a mountain of trouble that seems impossible to summit, we should trust in God’s strength to get us over the top of our struggle. Let’s not turn back toward comfort from our trouble, but rather move up the mountain in the strength of God.

A car dangerously cuts in front of another driver in a hurry. The offended driver steps on the accelerated in rage so as to cut off the offender. A customer comes into a fast food restaurant. But her food is not prepared to her liking. She becomes loud and abusive and winds up slapping the innocent worker behind the counter. A student is bullied for a long time in his high school. In a secret pact with a friend, they gather weapons for their tragic revenge on anyone who gets in their way. Where will the cycle of offense and revenge end?

Romans 12:20-21 says, “To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him, if he is thirsty, give him something to drink, for by so doing you heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” It is our natural instinct to seek revenge when we are wronged. But revenge is its own form of evil and generally enlarges the cycle of offenses and revenge. It is far more effective to overcome evil with good. We can do this by trusting God to judge evil. He knows and empathizes with our hurts. God calls us to leave vengeance to Him.

Most contracts are limited in coverage and terms. Even the marriage vows where we say “until death” we will never part, seems to have a hidden limitation that says “unless I fall out of love for you”. The warranty on our purchases have all sorts of exclusions, making us wonder what is really covered. Why don’t we stand behind our workmanship and our promises?

Romans 11:29 says, “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” God is faithful to His promises. He is true to His Word. And He never changes causing our relationship with Him to change also. God’s calling upon your life, His purpose for you, and the gifts He has given you will never change, can never be taken away, and won’t be replaced with something less valuable. He is trustworthy, so trust Him with everything.p

I am amazed by the skill and courage that it takes to excel on the balance beam in gymnastics. The gymnasts perform intricate feats at great risk. I don’t know how they do it, but I do know that they have to keep their eyes on the target and can’t become distracted by the noise and activity around them.

We have to negotiate our way through life in much the same way. We have goals, whether formalized or intuitive, and give our best attention and effort into achieving our objectives. The noise and activity around us tries to distract us, but we have to remain focused and keep our eyes on the goal.

Proverbs 4:27-29 says, “Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil.” God is showing us how to make our way through life secure. We must keep our eyes on Jesus and take careful steps in His direction. Then we will not fall into the traps that evil sets for us on the right and on the left. Don’t fall for the lies that evil tells you. Keep your eyes on Jesus.

Right now I have a high number of painful red spots on my face. I am highly susceptible to skin cancer and have many precancerous spots on my face and two confirmed cancer growths on my arm. The doctor recommended a chemotherapy cream for my face. It is strong stuff. My face feels like a bad sunburn and is painful when touched. But the goal of the cream is to remove the precancer before it becomes cancer and even more drastic counter measures are required, like cutting out the cancerous growths on my arm. So while it is painful now, hopefully it will make my skin healthy.

James 1:2-4 says, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

Good character is built on the crucible of struggles. These struggles can, indeed, wear us down and contribute to hopelessness. But they also can make us stronger. Just like the athlete who must endure many hard workouts to perform their best, we need to persevere through painful events to become steadfast in our faith. But we can’t do this on our own. We must depend upon and trust the strength and goodness of our Savior Jesus Christ. It is by His power that we can endure and grow. Its our darkest times that produce our shiniest moments by the light of Jesus.