So you just learned that your new job is not exactly what you thought it would be?\u00a0 Maybe you learned that one of your friends really is much different than you thought?\u00a0 Or, maybe the savings, portfolio, or 401k statements you were misreading were really someone else\u2019s with the same name, and yours are really tanking.\u00a0 The truth hurts.\u00a0 What about the group of friends, the company, or the organization that you invested your very soul into for a long period of time that you find out is different.\u00a0 You find out SUDDENLY that things are not what they appeared to be.\u00a0 What do you do?\u00a0 What should you do?<\/p>\n
Do you panic and become consumed with immobilizing fear, worry, or a tumultuous combination of the two.\u00a0 Do you retaliate?\u00a0 \u201cYou made me hurt.\u00a0 I will make you hurt more.\u201d\u00a0 Or, are you out to make someone pay?\u00a0 Do you run?\u00a0 Is your thinking \u201cGet me as far away from anything or anyone that has any connection to this deception and pain so I don\u2019t have to taste, touch, hear, see, or even smell anything associated with this rancor?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Do you add names and labels and boil?\u00a0 Or, do you choose another way?\u00a0 Do you choose a way not associated with this world or the master Deceiver behind the ungodly reality that hides in the shadows of \u201cplastic perfection\u201d?<\/p>\n
Things are not what they appear.\u00a0 Welcome to a sin cursed, fallen world with fallen people.\u00a0 That\u2019s the painful reality.\u00a0 Even those who profess Christ as Savior and Lord are, at times, gripped and masqueraded by the perplexities and complexities of their own sinful desires, the world, and the master Deceiver.\u00a0 And the name of Christ is defamed.\u00a0 The very King believers seek to bring glory becomes the victim of a worshipper\u2019s crime.\u00a0 Yet, the offended Advocate offers another way to respond when things are not what they appear?\u00a0 How do God\u2019s people respond?\u00a0 How should God\u2019s people respond?<\/p>\n
Perplexed, emotional, crunched between a rock and a hard place, and without any human solution, Moses led God\u2019s people out of the Egypt on an exciting adventure toward freedom and the promised land\u2026until they faced a wall of water on side and a wall of impending soldiers on the other. They stared at the impossibility of their situation instead of focusing on their God who makes all things possible.\u00a0 Long story short, God\u2019s people lost heart and blamed Moses.\u00a0 What happened?\u00a0 Moses cried out to God.\u00a0 God\u00a0 showed up.\u00a0 He showed up big. \u00a0God graciously made the impossible possible by parting the waters and leading His people from those (Egyptians) who opposed Him (Exodus 14).\u00a0 And why did that all happen? So that God would receive glory (Exodus 14:18).\u00a0 What was the result for God\u2019s people?\u00a0 They feared the LORD and believed in Him\u2026 (14:31). God\u2019s people, after initial poor response, changed.<\/p>\n
Bewildered, anxious, and caught off guard, the disciples did not see the cross coming.\u00a0 Things were not what they had initially appeared.\u00a0 The motley crew of twelve planned on victoriously marching in the kingdom with Christ leading the charge.\u00a0 God had a much bigger plan.\u00a0 However, this plan did not involve deception, it involved a better plan that the followers did not comprehend<\/em> at the time.\u00a0 How did the disciples respond to things not being what they appeared?\u00a0 The disciples hid in an upper room.\u00a0 They doubted.\u00a0 They feared. Until \u2026Jesus returned.<\/p>\n Ever been there?\u00a0 Life is tracking.\u00a0 Things are cruising along just fine.\u00a0 You are working your heart out.\u00a0 You are loving with all you\u2019ve got – Then comes the \u201cRed Sea\u201d moment\u2026 The stark, yet awkwardly chilling, confusing, and world-flipping \u201cCrucifixion\u201d moment\u2026\u00a0 The moment when your perception of reality becomes the illusion that dissolves in front of what really is\u2026There appears to be nowhere to turn.\u00a0 No solution. No comfort.\u00a0 No hope.\u00a0 How do you respond?<\/p>\n How should you and I respond when things are not what they appear?<\/strong><\/p>\n 1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Pray, anticipating a new and better plan <\/strong><\/p>\n Like Moses and those leaving Egypt, God uses \u201csuddenness of reality \u201d to transform His people into faithful and trusting followers.\u00a0 God wants us to call on Him and confide in Him.\u00a0 God uses the truth to set us free.\u00a0 God loves His children and has a plan (Romans 8:28-9; Philippians 2).<\/p>\n 2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Trust Him <\/strong><\/p>\n Some choose to trust in \u201cchariots\u201d.\u00a0 We trust in the Name of the Lord our God.\u00a0 Sometimes God uses suddenness of revealed deception on the part of others to reveal our \u201cchariot\u201d (idols, objects of trust and affection). The Psalmist put it this way \u201cTrust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.\u00a0 In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path\u201d (Proverbs 3:5-6).\u00a0 In the midst of what appears to be impossible, is painful and confusing, and may not make sense at all, God can be trusted (Isaiah 55:8-9).<\/p>\n 3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Look for God to show up big<\/strong><\/p>\n Like the Moses leading the people out of Egypt to encounter the Red Sea, and like Jesus leading His followers toward Kingdom living to encounter the Cross, the reality of the parting sea stood behind the deception of the impossible and the reality of the resurrection stood behind the deception of a \u201cdefeated Savior\u201d.\u00a0 Satan loves to deceive.\u00a0 Our hearts many times gravitate toward the shadows. \u00a0However, God\u2019s grace wins (Romans 5:21). \u00a0God\u2019s everlasting loving-kindness reveals, covers, and sustains through the toughest of situations life has to offer (Psalm 136; Lamentation 3:22-23).<\/p>\n 4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Actively embrace your new role(s) <\/strong><\/p>\n Moses and his people voiced their longing for a return to Egypt at times.\u00a0 The disciples temporarily returned to fishing.\u00a0 But at some point the children of Israel actively embraced the \u201cpromised land\u201d and the disciples actively embraced being \u201cfishers of men\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Moses, the non-eloquent\u00a0 mouthpiece of God talks skillfully to men and God (Exodus 32).\u00a0 The hiding disciples go to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the world proclaiming the gospel, along with a church abuser apostle Paul whose life was suddenly changed (by the sudden revealing of truth).\u00a0 God is amazing!<\/p>\n Cool thought.\u00a0 Just like things can be negatively \u201cnot what they appear\u201d, is when we usually\u00a0 we see and understand God in a whole new way that transforms a difficult, hurtful situation into a hopeful, powerful time of \u201cGod making things better than what they humanly appeared\u201d.<\/p>\n What in your life is not what it appeared to be?\u00a0\u00a0 Who in your life is not what he or she appeared to be? (Be careful here)\u00a0 Are you going to respond in according to the folly that initiated this situation?\u00a0 Or, are you going to respond differently?\u00a0\u00a0 God does provide help and hope to transform your life and mine.\u00a0 May God help you and me today to respond more like Christ instead of more like fallen people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What about you?\u00a0 <\/strong><\/h2>\n
What about the flip-side?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
How will you choose to respond?<\/strong><\/h2>\n