Chicks, Butterflies, and Camels

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Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. – James 1:2-4

I have a young acquaintance who tells me she has seen the Lord show Himself to her in the past with all kinds of signs and proofs. Whether these were physical, emotional, or both, I don’t know. She recently expressed discouragement that lately she hadn’t seen God “come through” for her the way He has in the past, and she occasionally succumbs to the feeling that He no longer keeps His promises, that He has abandoned her … etc.

I understand the feeling. But it’s just that – a feeling.

God can and does manifest Himself in those wonderful emotional “highs,” especially when we’re young and those feelings mean so much to our perception of reality. As “baby Christians” we need the encouragement, and those moments help reinforce our budding faith.

But the enemy of our souls can use those feelings, too. He’ll use the highs to tempt us to rely on a “feel-good gospel,” which is really a false gospel. Or, when the low points come, he’ll try to use them to get us to believe God no longer cares, has forgotten about us, or is powerless to help.

When that happens, it’s time to grow up. Are we going to live according to our emotions, or according to the truth? I would suggest that the Truth is much more reliable than our feelings. (I speak from experience.)

My response to this young lady (and a reminder to myself) went something like this:

” ‘Seems’ is the key word here. Things are NOT what they seem – God has not abandoned you! He is very much involved, but you are growing, and He wants to make you stronger.

There’s a reason we are told not to ‘help’ a chick hatch or a butterfly to come out of its cocoon. We see the creature struggling, and we’re tempted to give it a little aid. But if we do, once the chick is hatched or the butterfly is out, it will be too weak to survive. They need the struggle, and so do we. You are entering a new chapter in your spiritual growth, and you will need stronger faith that (by definition) trusts God even when we can’t ‘see’ Him.”

We trust, not because we see His hand, but because we know Who He is, how He has come through for us in the past, and that He can be trusted now. Meanwhile, we should not shrink from the task at hand. God’s purposes are worth waiting and working for.

Such is true with individuals. My fellow blogger, Lisa V., recently applied the same principle to nations in a sobering post:

The camels are on the horizons……………………….

Certainly something for the younger generation to think about.

There is truth here, that is really a prediction about our future.

The founder of Dubai, Sheik Rashid, was asked about the future of his country, and he replied, “My grandfather rode a camel, my father rode a camel, I ride a Mercedes, my son rides a Land Rover, and my grandson is going to ride a Land Rover…but my great-grandson is going to have to ride a camel again.

Why is that, he was asked?

And his reply was, “Hard times create strong men, strong men create easy times. Easy times create weak men, weak men create difficult times. Many will not understand it, but you have to raise warriors, not parasites and pansies.”

And add to that the historical reality that all great empires…the Persians, the Trojans, the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, and in later years, the British…all rose and perished within 240 years.

They were not conquered by external enemies; they rotted from within. America has now passed that 240 year mark, and the rot is starting to be visible and is accelerating. We are past the Mercedes and Land Rover Years … the camels are on the horizon.

The greatest generation consisted of 18 year old kids storming the beaches at Normandy. And now, two generations later, some 18-year-old kids want to hide in safe rooms when they hear words that hurt their feelings. They also want free stuff from the government because they think they are entitled to it.

The “camels are on the horizon” for sure. Something to ponder.

History has a way of repeating itself.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, forgive us for the times we have valued pleasure, comfort, and ease more than You. Save us from cowardice, selfishness, and laziness. Help us focus our minds and hearts on Your faithfulness to us. Make us sensitive to Your voice, and as we resolve to obey You, give us the courage and strength to follow through. As a nation, raise us up to be righteous warriors, leaving a legacy of faith to future generations. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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Published by seekingdivineperspective

I am a forgiven sinner and adopted child of God, seeking to see life from His perspective - as opposed to the world's flawed perspective - and living my life accordingly.

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22 thoughts on “Chicks, Butterflies, and Camels”

  1. Living by our emotions or the truth – something we all need to learn to do. Wise words to her, God grows us in our faith and His intention is for us to be stronger. We trust because we know who He is – Amen.

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  2. Fortunately, there are some honest hardworking 18 year-olds out there, I know because they’re in our family and at our church. But you are also right, because even their perspective is skewed and they feel special. When we worked hard as young people, we didn’t feel unique, we just felt blessed to have a job!

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  3. This is an important message. When I was young, I heard a preacher saying “We live by faith, not by feelings.” I have carried that with me through life. It is an important truth. Things are not always as they seem. The truths about God – His faithfulness, mercy, love, and commitment to His word – are the facts which remain unchangeable.

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  4. Annie, your words about feelings need to be heard more than ever. Interestingly, I just finished preparing my sermon for Easter, mentioning feelings that can be very fleeting and focusing on evidence for the resurrection, including persecution and martyrdom.

    I also like Lisa’s post; can you provide a link to it?

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    1. Thanks for the encouraging words, Keith. I wish I could hear your Easter sermon. When I learned about all the evidence for the Resurrection, I became a bit annoyed with the hymn that says, “You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart!” Not sure I could convince anyone (even myself) with that “evidence” alone. Fortunately, there is so much more.
      Here’s Lisa’s post:

      Time to Reinvent Ourselves…

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      1. That means a lot to me, Annie. My wife, daughter, and I are part of a Chinese church, and the whole service is bilingual. We have a YouTube channel, so afterwards, I could send you a link to the service if you’d like; you could skip ahead to the sermon, but you’d still have to put up with the Mandarin translation. On the other hand, others have said my interpreter and I work very well together.

        Here are links to two posts that contain most of what’s in my sermon: https://keithpetersenblog.com/2021/03/24/evidence-for-the-resurrection/ and https://keithpetersenblog.com/2022/03/09/are-you-ready-to-go-home/ I noticed you’ve commented on both before, but just in case you want to look again…

        I’ll take a look at Lisa’s post on her site.

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  13. When I first came to Christ this mentality was preached to me about feelings and emotions and not about faith. It is true our God gives us many of these things to start out with and we rely on those and not faith, so it is not until true hard time hit that we realize that our faith was shallow and then the true lessons of faith come. I have never ridden a camel but I have horses and the hardest part for me to manage was their different gaits, getting the rhythm so as not to get beat and sore from the ride. It was either the slow pace or full out run that I could work with but anything in between I had a hard time managing, I had no patience. Faith is about balance and getting a stride or rhythm that is consistent, which takes time and a lot of practice, some of us are just a little more hard headed and takes us longer to get. Thanks for this perspective. God bless you

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