When life hands you lemons…

I know you all (or at least 99% of you) filled in “make lemonade” – or a lemon flavored adult beverage (hey, I’m not judging you for your lemon drops). But is that really the way that we react in difficult situations?

Here’s my reality – maybe it’s yours too:

When life hands you lemons, you do everything in your power to return them and get something you actually want (or think you want/need). When you find out that you can’t return them, you throw a bit of a hissy fit – either visibly or you envision a Guinness Book of World Records worthy tongue lashing – and begrudgingly accept the lemons. A couple of days later, you recognize the lemons haven’t disappeared, so you Google, “What to do with lemons.” Finding the obvious lemonade option – with a couple of interesting twists – you decide you might as well make the best of the situation and make lemonade.

My question is why do we avoid the natural solution?  I mean it seems that it would have been easier to just make the lemonade in the first place, right?

Enough about lemons – this is really about the way we behave in what we would consider “suboptimal” situations.

Let’s think about this from God’s perspective (Note: I’m in no way saying I’m equal to God or that I always understand why He does what He does. He’s God, right?).

All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
Psalm 139:16

He knows exactly what’s going to happen to us before it ever happens (actually even before we were even born, which is mind-boggling).

Yes, even that really awful, I don’t understand how that could happen thing.

Naturally, we want to ask, “Why, Lord?” And we’ll get an answer, but it may not be the one we wanted or expected – something like: “You’ll see. Trust me.”

Righteous Job was stripped of all his worldly possessions, then his family, then his health. As he sat on a heap of ashes, Job said, in response to his friends who believed he couldn’t be innocent and have so many bad things happen to him,

Though he slay me, yet I will hope in him.
Job 13:15

Amazingly, in spite of all the loss he experienced, Job trusted that God would work everything out.  He knew that God is righteous, just and true.

And Job was right to trust God:

the Lord made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before…The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the first.
Job 42:10, 12

That trust in God can only develop and mature as we draw near to him in prayer and worship and through reading His Word – regularly.

So what do we do in the here and now – as we experience pain, loss and disappointment?

Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.
Romans 5:3-4

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

Rejoice in The Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! … Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:4, 6-7

These passages all reveal that we must be joyful despite our circumstances – not rejoice about our circumstances, but take pleasure in and worship our God, who is the same yesterday, today and forever, as we walk through troubled times.

For The Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.
Psalm 100:5

How can we be joyful in these times?

…you will fill me with joy in your presence.
Psalm 16:11

The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to Him in song.
Psalm 28:7

Spend time with Him – in worship and prayer. In the times I have been my most worn-out, exhausted, frustrated or filled with sorrow and can’t bring my lips to say anything, those quiet moments after the silent “God, help me” prayer are the sweetest – filled with peace and comfort from a God who sees, cares and is always there.

Remember Romans 8:28: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

My advice – put on worship music (Chris Tomlin and Hillsong are both excellent choices), then sing and dance King David style.

But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to The Lord for he has been good to me.
Psalm 13:5-6

That’s making lemonade.

Our Civic Duty

Then Paul said, “I did not know, brethren, that he was the high priest; for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’”
Acts 23:5

We are again in the throes of election season and, as usual, things are getting pretty ugly – slander, finger pointing and defamation of character – all in the name of being elected to serve the American people.

Those who are making claims and doing their best to paint their opponents in the worst light are the same people we are to trust with running our country. Personally, that makes me a little nervous.

Instead of joining in the fray, which is so easy to do with social media, I have decided to focus more on praying for our leaders (present and future) and following the Apostle Paul’s example – by not speaking against those currently in office. Just to be clear, I’m not condoning behavior or saying I agree or disagree with what is happening in American politics; what I am saying is that I’m a Christ-follower and I believe that God is sovereign.

Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.
Proverbs 19:21 

Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinances of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.
Romans 13:1-2 

Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men…
1 Peter 2:13-15 

Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.
1 Timothy 2:1-4 

I challenge you, when you feel like griping or pointing fingers or shaking your head at politicians or politics in general, redirect your energy into prayer. America is in desperate need of covering in prayer, and we are just the people to do it.