Daily Devotions for Dining with God

Trials and Tribulations: Getting High Marks on Your Spiritual Tests

Brother M — Sun, 18 Aug 2019 04:19:12 +0000

Tests from God

What is mankind that you make so much of them, that you give them so much attention, that you examine them every morning and test them every moment? [Job 7:17-18 (NIV)].

Tests and trials appear to go hand in hand with piety and spiritual progress. They shake loose our apathy and complacency, puncturing our arrogance, and softening our recalcitrance.

He who has created death as well as life, so that He might put you to a test [and thus show] which of you is best in conduct, and [make you realize that] He alone is almighty, truly forgiving. [Quran 67:2].

Believers regularly undergo serious challenges, and when they don’t, they may actually feel guilt about enjoying excessive pleasures. What prophet or saint did not meet extraordinary hardships, suffering greatly and enduring persecution and privations?

The ordeal of the pious represents a catalyst that firmly sets faith into the heart. Hearts reared in comfort, never tested, insulated from disruptive events, are not prepared for challenges of loss, trauma, or adversity.

Or do ye think that ye shall enter the Garden (of bliss) without such (trials) as came to those who passed away before you? They encountered suffering and adversity, and were so shaken in spirit that even the Apostle and those of faith who were with him cried: “When (will come) the help of God?” Ah! Verily, the help of God is (always) near! [Quran 2:214]

Achievement Tests

Spiritual testing separates. It shows us who we are under pressure. These tests more than simulate; they are real life.

Remember how the Lord your God led you through the wilderness for these forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would obey his commands…. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. [Deuteronomy 8:2-3].

Divine tests measure our human condition, highlighting our mortal weaknesses, and making us accept the proof of our spiritual dependence.

. . . and most certainly We shall try you all, so that We might mark out those of you who strive hard [in Our cause] and are patient in adversity: for We shall put to a test [the truth of] all your assertions. [Quran 47:31].

Rationalized excuses dissolve when dipped in trials of grief and pain. They sever us from the transient world. Each test is a step toward Divine friendship, a rung on the ladder to higher spiritual certainty.

Christians will become real Christians, with less façade and more foundation. Catastrophe will divide them from the world, force them to declare their basic loyalties; it will revive shepherds who shepherd rather than administrate, reverse the proportion of saints and scholars in favor of saints, create more reapers for the harvest, more pillars of fire for the lukewarm; it will make the rich see that real wealth is in the service of the needy; and, above all else, it will make the glory of Christ’s Cross shine out in a love of the brethren for one another as true and loyal sons of God. [Fulton J. Sheen, Peace of Soul: Timeless Wisdom on Finding Serenity and Joy by the Century’s Most Acclaimed Catholic Bishop].

Multiple Choices

God teaches us, then tests us. Our trials are, in fact, open-book exams, lifelong essays written in thoughts and intentions, and multiple choices of actions and speech.

Even in the greatest afflictions, we ought to testify to God, that, in receiving them from his hand, we feel pleasure in the midst of the pain, from being afflicted by Him who loves us, and whom we love. [John Wesley, A Plain Account of Christian Perfection Ch. 11]

We learn from God what is right and what is wrong, then we are tried to see who is best in good works, whose conduct merits reward, who strives with body and wealth to serve God.

We are never tested beyond our capacities and the instructions are easy to follow. The lessons are before us to see, read, contemplate.

No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it. [1 Corinthians 10:13].

Open-Book Tests

We are tested with comfort and with difficulties, with pleasure and with pain, with abundance and with scarcity, with suffering and with love, with life and with death. Our entire existence is a series of tests by which our most essential character is tried.

We must open our Book and act upon what we know, what we have been given to learn. If we ignore the lessons, we must accept the consequences. The guidance of God is clear. Good stand out from evil.

Be sure we shall test you with something of fear and hunger, some loss in goods or lives or the fruits (of your toil), but give glad tidings to those who patiently persevere, Who say, when afflicted with calamity: “To God We belong, and to Him is our return” [Quran 2:155-6].

Failing Your Tests

Using study notes prepared from prime-time media, today’s generation appears to be failing miserably at life. Abandoning compassion, piety, and righteousness, we are repeating the excesses, corruption, and depravity of earlier generations. We copy their answers not realizing ours is a different test.

As our comforts, security, and prosperity increase, destructive overindulgence is commonplace, endangering our very existence. Our primary goal today is pleasure, and our main objectives are material comforts and lust for the world.

Tests whip us to alertness, standing us upright, attentive to Divine instruction.

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. [Psalm 139:23].

Perfect Work

The first line of defense for the believer is remaining conscious of God’s commands and refusing to be distracted by the lures of a wayward society.

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. [James 1:2-4 (NKJV) ].

Our devotion to God must overwhelm the desires of the body and overpower the thrills and amusements of the day. We must lift our spirit beyond the reach of temptation and corruption, cleansing it of the surrounding filth, and purifying our thoughts, words, and deeds.

But he knows where I am going. And when he tests me, I will come out as pure as gold. For I have stayed on God’s paths; I have followed his ways and not turned aside. I have not departed from his commands, but have treasured his words more than daily food. [Job 23:10-12].

May God guide us through the darkness of this society and lead us out by Divine light. May we find refuge in God’s mercy, shelter in His words, and comfort in His promise. May He strengthen us with wisdom and help with understanding, so that we may pass our tests.

On no soul doth God Place a burden greater than it can bear. It gets every good that it earns, and it suffers every ill that it earns. (Pray:) “Our Lord! Condemn us not if we forget or fall into error; our Lord! Lay not on us a burden Like that which Thou didst lay on those before us; Our Lord! Lay not on us a burden greater than we have strength to bear. Blot out our sins, and grant us forgiveness. Have mercy on us. Thou art our Protector; Help us against those who stand against faith.” [Quran 2:286].

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Eating Your Life Away: Overeating, Aging and Faith

Brother M — Mon, 15 Jul 2019 04:19:00 +0000

Aging & Oxidation — People Rusting Away

Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding? [Job 12:12 NIV].

Is there a relationship between faith and aging? Is it accurate to say that the more we eat, the more we decay–that we literally eat ourselves to death?

Worship the Lord your God, and His blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you … I will give you a full life span. [Exodus 23:25-26].

Some scientists believe that a primary cause of aging is oxidation, the process that converts food to energy in our bodies. According to the oxidation/inflammation theory of aging, our lifespan is an inverse function of our metabolic rate, which is proportional to oxygen consumption. In other words, the very essence of physical existence has a built-in decaying process — the more we eat, the more we age.

A believer eats in one intestine (is satisfied with a little food), and a kafir (disbeliever) eats in seven intestines (eats much food). [Sahih Bukhari]

When oxygen combusts in the human body, it is called oxidation. It is an essential reaction for life, but it also produces by-products referred to as free radicals. This oxidation process is comparable to what happens to metals such as iron when “rusting” occurs. It is thought that aging can be described as people “rusting” away.

Based on the above we have proposed the theory of oxidation-inflammation as the main cause of aging. Accordingly, the chronic oxidative stress that appears with age affects all cells and especially those of the regulatory systems, such as the nervous, endocrine and immune systems and the communication between them. This fact prevents an adequate homeostasis and, therefore, the preservation of health … A confirmation of the central role of the immune system in oxi-inflamm-aging is that the administration of adequate amounts of antioxidants in the diet, improves the immune functions, decreasing their oxidative stress, and consequently increases the longevity of the subjects. [Dr. Jesús M de la Fuente, NIH].

Long Life of Faith

Since eating is integrally connected to our vital energy, it’s obviously an element of the aging process. To the scientist, aging is the organic process of catabiosis, the normal aging of cells, that shows the effects of increasing age. However, focusing solely on physical appearance ignores a purpose — an ultimate end to our existence.

One thing the quantified research has shown so far is very valuable: Biological age responds to psychological age. By nurturing your inner life, you are using the power of awareness to defeat aging at its source. On the other hand, changes of awareness in the direction of apathy, helplessness, and dissatisfaction push the body into rapid decline. [Deepak Chopra, The Essential Ageless Body, Timeless Mind, p. 44].

For the believer, aging is a natural course back to the Creator that provides us the opportunity to develop desirable qualities.

What good is it to live a long life when we amend that life so little? Indeed, a long life does not always benefit us, but on the contrary, frequently adds to our guilt. Would that in this world we had lived well throughout one single day. Many count up the years they have spent in religion but find their lives made little holier. If it is so terrifying to die, it is nevertheless possible that to live longer is more dangerous. Blessed is he who keeps the moment of death ever before his eyes and prepares for it every day. [Thomas à Kempis, Imitation of Christ].

Spiritual Immersion

To be immersed in God carves a permanent path through transient reality. Most of us are constantly surrounded by the past and the future, spending only a small portion of our life enjoying the present.

When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up. [C. S. Lewis].

When young we are ever looking toward our future, while in old age we reminisce about what has passed. The present is rarely where our thoughts want to be. And, even when we momentarily enjoy the present moment, we are filled with worry and fear that we will soon lose our joy.

The fear of the Lord prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened. [Proverbs 10:27].

Divine Service and Aging

Long life without a permanent goal has little meaning. Time only offers resources to accomplish our service to God. For believers, the purpose of extending our life span is to please God.

Death is a covenant gift to the children of God. The last day of their life is their best day. [James Harington Evans, Vintage gleanings: selections from sermons].

May our temporary pleasures of taste and satiety be submerged into our spiritual purpose. May we remember always that an exulted existence is our goal and that eating is only a prerequisite to rendering service to God.

But woe unto those who deny the truth: for suffering severe awaits those who choose the life of this world as the sole object of their love, preferring it to [all thought of] the life to come, and who turn others away from the path of God and try to make it appear crooked. Such as these have indeed gone far astray! . [Quran 14:3].

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The Timeless Measure of Life: What Is Your Spiritual Age?

Brother M — Sun, 14 Jul 2019 04:19:25 +0000

Measuring Our Spiritual Age

“God works in moments,” … We ask for long life, but it’s deep life or noble moments that signify. Let the measure of time be spiritual, not mechanical. [Ralph Waldo Emerson].

The life of an automobile is measured not only by the year in which it was built, but also by the number of miles it has been driven. Likewise, the number of copies of an office copier and the printed pages of a printer tell us much more than how many years ago they were manufactured. Time is less important than actual usage and service.

When we routinely measure our life span, we assume birth to be the beginning and death to be the end. We use years to determine age, and consider a long life to measure around 90 years. Does this secular approach to measuring life accurately gauge existence?

We seldom realize fully that we are sent to fulfill God-given tasks. We act as if we were simply dropped down in creation and have to decide to entertain ourselves until we die. But we were sent into the world by God, just as Jesus was. Once we start living our lives with that conviction, we will soon know what we were sent to do. [Henri J. M. Nouwen, Bread for the Journey: a Daybook of Wisdom and Faith].

Our Lifetime Highlights

Do the milestones that highlight our achievements reflect a disregard of Divine service? Have we dedicated our lifetime merely to accumulating material prosperity?

What we accomplish, how we live, what we produce, these cannot be measured solely by counting years and recording accumulated worldly accessories.

Wealth and sons are the adornment of the present world; but the abiding things, the deeds of righteousness, are better with God in reward, and better in hope. [Quran 18:6].

We can earn academic degrees, achieve professional status, be promoted to corporate leadership, and become distinguished executives – all with little thought of how such efforts translate into pleasing God.

God must be sought and found in the things of our world. By regarding our daily duties as something performed for the honour and glory of God, we can convert what was hitherto soul-killing monotony, to a living worship of God in all our actions. Everyday life must become itself our prayer. [Karl Rahner, Happiness Through Prayer, p. 53].

Age: How Long or How Deep?

Spiritual aging measures how we served God. Was our life spent pursuing transient pleasure? Did we fulfill the duties ordained by our faith? Was our intellect used to learn and propagate? Was our energy a means of providing charitable help?

A human being… must run after eternity and seek His [God’s] good pleasure all the time—so much so that a title of “conqueror” should not be anything desirable as far as it does not take one to God, as such a thing does not bear any meaning on its own. What makes an action valuable is the depth of a person’s sincere intention. [Fethullah Gülen].

Aging takes on new meanings in the context of Divine service. Transient, short-lived plans and goals offer little incentive in old age. More than at any other time, the will of God motivates and energizes us as we grow old. It is the age of philanthropy, of contemplation and of wisdom.

Our world often sends the message that as people age, they don’t have much left to offer. This is radically different in God’s kingdom. In God’s plan, as long as we have breath, we are called to serve the Lord. There is no retirement age when it comes to serving the Lord. God is honored by those who are pressing forward in years but continue to say, “I will climb one more hill for the Lord!” [John Ortberg, The Stepping Out in Faith, p. 26].

Threading Water for a Living

Worldly affairs offer no meaning or purpose in themselves. Threading water in the ocean of existence gets us nowhere. If we are not engaged in fulfilling tasks pleasing to God, we are standing still.

Mullah Nasruddin was once boasting about his ageless strength. “I am as strong as I was when I was a young man.” “How can that be?” he was asked. Responded the Mullah, “There is a big rock outside my house. I couldn’t move it then and I can’t move it now!”

Our life acquires significance from the Divine Reality. Without an Absolute, there is no direction, no high or low, no greatness or lowliness. We cannot distinguish up from down. Confusion prevails. That is the nature of an existence devoid of the reality of God.

Our soul in the everyday only seems to be a huge barn into which everything from everywhere is unloaded haphazardly day after day until it is filled to the roof with the everyday. And so it seems to go along for an entire lifetime in the everyday until – yes, until that hour which we call our death – all the junk which was our life is removed from the barn. [Karl Rahner, The Need and the Blessing of Prayer].

Do we realize that the journey called life begins and ends with God? The value of every effort we exert is determined by standards divinely established. If self-indulgence motivates our life, we will be greatly disappointed when we measure our spiritual age.

By (the Token of) Time (through the ages),
Verily Man is in loss,
Except such as have Faith, and do righteous deeds, and (join together) in the mutual teaching of Truth, and of Patience and Constancy. [Quran 103:1-3].

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