“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players; they have their exits and their entrances…” beautifully said by Shakespeare in As You Like It.
Life truly feels like a stage. God is the theatre director. We are the players. We enter it when we’re born and we exit it when God ordains it. More than that, I am reminded that we’re daily performing on a stage because we all have an audience.
Vertically, we have the audience of one. Horizontally we’re faced with the audience of many. On Shakespeare’s stage you perform, and act. On God’s stage we ought to live a transparent life and get rid of all the performing.
There are two key principles found at the heart of living for the audience of one. As any healthy relationship, it’s a two way street. Do I delight in the Lord? Does the Lord delight in me?
Do I delight in the Lord?
Am I eager to spend time with God on a daily basis? Learning about His character, talking with Him, talking about Him? Or, do I see it as an obligation as a Christian, giving God my left-over energy when it fits into my schedule or when I hit rock-bottom?
Psalm 37:4 says “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” This verse should not be treated as a magic wand. We often focus on having our requests approved, and passingly we mention the “delight yourself in the Lord” part. The weight goes heavily on the word ‘delight’ (to bend/ incline toward, to take pleasure in). When you delight in the Lord, you let God inspire the heart’s desires.
Do I take pleasure in all of His commands? Or, do I try to excuse my sinful behaviour and try to find ways to explain away principles that don’t fit my lifestyle? Am I embarrassed to share with others God’s message? “I will speak of your statutes before kings and will not be put to shame, for I delight in your commands because I love them.” Psalm 119:46-47
Am I fruitful or do I wither away because my roots don’t go deep enough? The Scripture says that who meditates on God’s law day and night is “like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season…” Ps. 1:3
Apostle Paul teaches the church in Galatia what the fruit of the Spirit looks like and what the flesh desires (I would compare the sinful desires to rotten fruit).
Here’s a check list for us (read it slowly):
Rotten fruit: “sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these.”
Good fruit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”
The bottom line is do I delight in the Lord in the good, and in the hard times? Can I say like Job “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”
Does the Lord delight in me?
Hebrews chapter 11 records a list of men of faith from the ancient of days. To end up on the Wall Of Faith it took those people delighting in the Lord, and the Lord delighting in them.
What are some characteristics of those God delighted in?
Abel understood what kind of offering God desires. “By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.” vs. 4
Lesson: Do I understand what kind of offering God expects of me? Sometimes I catch myself serving God out of ‘holy’ habit, yet my heart is distracted with other things. “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.” Hosea 6:6
Enoch pleased God with His faith. “For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please God…” vs. 5-6 (If you are not pleasing God too much for the fear not to be taken away too early, no need to worry, it’s worth taking that risk. We’re not on earth one minute less or more than what God intends for us to be.)
Lesson: Here is how the Bible defines faith, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”, Hebrews 11:1 We don’t see Jesus physically next to us throughout the day. But, we do know that He is present and He sees everything we are doing outwardly and inwardly.
It’s pathetic to see how suddenly we become such law-abiding citizens in traffic, when we see those flashing lights of a police car. We become aware of accountability. Do I live in the awareness that Jesus is right beside me when I work, when I relax, when I surf the internet, when I speak etc. ?
Noah had holy fear and stood out from the crowd. “By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.” vs. 7
Lesson: If we were to compare today’s world with Noah’s times, I’m not sure to what degree we would be different. But, I can definitely say from simple observations that the earth is corrupted and is full of violence, that there is wickedness around us, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart is evil. If God had to pick someone today to build a boat, would God pick me and my family out of a crowd?
Abraham obeyed God in the unknown. “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” vs. 8, “By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice.” vs. 17
Lesson: God allows tests to come into our lives. Am I okay with God even in the unknown? When I don’t understand why something happens?
Joseph trusted that God had a plan for His chosen ones. “By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.” vs. 22
Lesson: Joseph is my favourite character in the Bible. I love his integrity, I love his trusting God when he was in the well, sold into slavery, far away from his comfort zone, accused and punished unfairly. Can I trust God with a great outcome even when others mean it for evil, and I am going through unfair situations?
Moses’ parents did what they believed was right in spite of the law. By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. vs. 23
Lesson: The Bible does emphasize that we are to respect authorities and abide in the law. The only time we have an exception is when God’s law, which is supreme to human law, is broken.
A few days ago I was visiting with my folks. I had a blast listening and recording some of my dad’s stories of ministry during communism. Back then the law said, you are not allowed to share the Gospel.
I often call my dad the Billy Graham of Moldova, he is passionate about evangelism. I love how creative they had to be in those times. How did they do it when it was illegal to preach?
The only time even the communism had a bit more compassion was during a funeral. It was rude to interrupt the service.
In Moldova, we don’t have funeral homes. So the body stays at the family’s house two or three days. Then they walk the whole village to the cemetery. At each corner they would stop and preach the Gospel. In between messages, they would sing ‘Oh, the Deep Deep Love of Jesus’ (definitely not in English).
Legal or not, the Gospel was shared at every corner of the village. (You really couldn’t blame the pastors, in those times, if they rejoiced just a little at the news that someone died. 🙂 )
In Conclusion: As I was working through this article, I was struggling with worry. Previously, I have shared about our health scares. Having a heart-attack patient in the house, there are always things to get concerned about.
After a severe flu at Christmas, my husband has been dealing with more fatigue than usually, shortness of breath and some strong heart-beats at times. The doctors suggested various tests to check the heart and the stent he got a year ago. In my sinful nature, I felt overwhelmed with fear and I let it control me. Till some loving people around me, including my hubby, challenged me to see God as sovereign, and that I need to trust Him.
As spring came to Bucharest, I took the girls to the park to get rid of their non-exhaustive energy. Suddenly a question came to my mind: “Right now, is God delighted in me?” I know God’s truth by heart, but is it in my heart? Here I am full of worry over things I don’t even know are good or bad, showing God my lack of trust in Him, after He has daily shown me sooooo much grace. Today, I surely am not qualified to be on that Wall Of Faith. But, praise God his mercies are new every morning. And tomorrow I can start afresh.
Things I need to work on:
- Do I delight in the Lord?
- Do I understand what kind of offering God expects of me?
- Am I eager to spend time with God on a daily basis?
- Am I okay with God even in the unknown?
- Would God pick me and my family out of a crowd to build a boat?
- Can I trust God when I am going through unfair situations?
- Does the Lord delight in me?