August 27

“But faith laughed at all such prudential considerations, and, confidently resting on God’s word, gave a shout of victory, while yet to the eye of sense that victory seemed impossible.  Long centuries afterwards the Holy Spirit thus records this triumph of faith in Hebrews:  ‘By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they had been encircled for seven days.’”  Hannah Whitall Smith, Daily Secrets, 8/27

As I read Hannah’s account of the Hebrews’ faith I thought about my porch swing.  When we moved into this house 22 years ago it had a front porch slab, but no roof covering it.  Because the house faced west the porch was too hot to sit on in the afternoon.  It was my hope to one day cover the porch, but because it was shaped like a trapezoid we wondered if that would ever be possible.  I knew, however, if we were successful I’d have to have a porch swing just like my grandmother’s house had.  So after a few years of struggling to make house payments and no hope of ever being able to pay for a porch roof I gave up on the idea until I saw a porch swing drastically marked down.  I immediately bought it and brought it home.  Within the year my husband’s sales job produced an unexpected windfall.  We found a builder who figured out how to attach a roof to that odd-shaped porch, and we not only built that porch roof but also enlarged a bedroom to accommodate our growing family.  As I am reminded this morning of the faith that built that porch roof I realize there are several more “porch swings” waiting for me to go out and “purchase” so that the Lord can fulfill the desires of my heart.

“Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”  Psalm 37:4

May 5

“We ‘desire’ to do the will of God, not because our piety is so exalted, but because we have the sense to see that His will is the best; and therefore what He wants we want also.....For when our will is in harmony with His will...it has the stamp of oneness with Him....” Hannah Whitall Smith, Daily Secrets, 5/5

Our wills are really the cause of all our troubles.  We talk of denying self, ignoring self, dying to self, but it’s really the self-will that we are talking about.  The will that wants it’s own way and that way is against God in some way.  It’s against God, obviously, when it wants something we all agree is bad--like stealing, lying, killing, etc.  But it’s also against God whenever it doesn’t want to depend on God to receive what it needs.  This is when our wills lead us into running ahead of God’s timing---like Sarah and Abraham did when they did not wait for God’s timing for Sarah to conceive the promised heir.  Or it leads us into not loving others by demanding our rights over theirs.  Or not being content with what we have.  The list goes on and on!  Freedom in Christ, then, is having this sense that Hannah speaks of--the sense to see that God’s will is the best and therefore wanting what God wants.  This is how we bring our wills into harmony with God’s will and how we can then claim His promises.

“Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”  Psalm 37:4