A group of about 20 of us got back from the EBF Women's Retreat to the Coast yesterday. The Lord spoke to my heart and I wanted to share some of what He's teaching me with you.
But first I have to share what was one of the funniest moments of the coast retreat with you. Many of you know that our traditional "retreat" is in May. We have a speaker and food and fellowship on Friday night and all day Saturday. In my mind, because it's been around so much longer, that is The Retreat. So we were all gathered in one room, having just finished a time of Bible study and discussion. I was making announcements and said, "All of you should join us for our women's retreat in May." There was a moment of pause and Terri Trimboli says, with a hint of humor in her tone, "Wait, I thought that was what I was doing now. Where am I?" Without missing a beat, Nancy Carroll answered, "This is the retreat where you sign up for The Retreat."
And just so you all know, I'm signing every single one of you up for the retreat in May. We've decided an effective strategy to increase attendance is to commit you without asking about your desires or availablity. If you want to be taken off the list, you'll have to approach one of the women's ministry team leaders. The cost of being taken off the list is your firstborn child. Joking. The Retreat will be wonderful. Diane Schoming will be sharing about our need for the gospel and God's heart for the gospel to go out to all the nations. I'm looking forward to hearing from Him with you!
In all seriousness, the coast retreat was food for my soul. We studied Psalm 46. Verses one and two say, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea." The NASB says verse one could also read, "God is our refuge and strength, He is abundantly available for help."
On Sunday, Pauline elaborated on the idea that God is our place of protection and shelter by saying that He is a shelter where we can and should abide. He is not available just when storms hit; we need to be found in Him at all times. In fact, if we wait to run to Him when the mountains begin to slip into the heart of the sea, we will bear some of the brunt of the temptest. But if we know ahead of time that we are in Him, then we are already safe.
Yet I know there are lots of times that I am not functionally abiding in Him. My flesh pulls me away to other shelters. Food, relaxation, time with friends and family. All good things, but each such an inadequate refuge. I tend to run to my ability to control. I believe the lies that Satan tells and sometimes have a suspicious view of God, as if maybe He has taken His hand off of this circumstance or this person. As if He doesn't love perfectly and isn't actively redemptive in every situation.
Still in spite of this, He is infinitely gracious and woos us to Him again. He is a patient, wise, consistent teacher that never gives up. It is infinitely relieving to be reminded that my salvation and sanctification are not the result of me abiding in Him, but rather are in the work of His Spirit in me to draw me back again. Because of Christ's work, I am in Him all the time and I functionally abide in Him again because He works effectually in my soul so that clinging to Him is what I desire.
This morning, my devotion was on John 15:5: "Without Me you can do nothing." Ocatvius Winslow writes, "The great secret of all comfort in seasons of affliction is to the take the affliction, as it comes, simply to Christ; and the great secret of all holiness is to take the corruption, as it rises, simply to Christ. It is in this living upon Christ for all needs, this going to Christ under all circumstances and in all seasons, which forms the happy and holy life of a child of God. There is no other path for the believer to walk in. The moment the believer turns from Christ, he becomes like a vessel loosed from its moornings and driven at the mercy of the winds from billow to billow. Christ must be all to him; friends, domestic comforts, Church privileges, ordinances, means of grace - nothing can suffice for Jesus."
He convictingly continues, "And why does the Lord remove friends, why blight domestic comforts, why rob us of church privileges, why close up ordinances, and write death upon the means of grace? Oh, why, but to open a way through which He Himself might enter the believer, and convince that lonely, bereaved, and desolate heart that He is substitute for everything, while nothing shall ever be a substitute for Him? He will have the supreme affection of His saints, they shall find their all in Him; and to this end He sends afflictions, crosses, and disappointments, in order to wean them from their idols and draw them to Himself."
Amen. May my soul remember when affliction and suffering come, that the Lord is being gracious. He knows that I tend to wander from Him and that it is death for me to take shelter anywhere but in Him. There is nothing suspcious in His dealing with us. He does it because He loves us.
How long do we wait when affliction or temptation or sin come before we turn to Christ? Let no time pass. He promises that He is abundantly available for help when His precious daughters run to Him.
And sign up for the retreat. Or else.
