Jane Morley Gone Home Too Soon

Jane Laura Morley October 18th, 1947 - September 27th, 2013
To quote The Tinman, I know I have a heart because I feel mine breaking, love you Jane, be at peace

Have you ever felt like you were hiding from GOD ?

But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9 NIV).



Eden was full of God’s glory—breathtaking beauty with unbroken union and constant communion with God. But as we know, something went terribly wrong, and Adam and Eve found themselves naked and ashamed. And what was the first thing they did when that happened?

They hid.

They hid from God.

“Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, “’Where are you?’” (Genesis 3:8-9). God called out.

God.

Called.

Out.

“Where are you?” God asked. It was the very first question in the Bible, and it was asked by an all-knowing God. He still asks that very question today. Perhaps you’ve heard it as well. I have.

The real tragedy of Adam and Eve’s disobedience was that union between God and man was broken. Shattered. Destroyed. But as soon as Eve sank her teeth into the forbidden fruit, the shadow of the cross rose on the horizon and God’s redemptive plan to restore all that we had lost was set in motion. All through the rest of the Old Testament, from Genesis 3:9 to Malachi 4:6, we read of God calling humanity back to Himself.

We read of cycles of humanity’s fellowship with God, followed by humanity’s rebellion against God, followed by God’s wooing humanity back in the midst of difficult circumstances, followed by humanity’s repentance, followed by humanity’s fellowship with God, followed by humanity’s rebellion against God, followed by God’s wooing humanity back in the midst of difficult situations, followed by humanity’s repentance, followed by humanity’s fellowship with God, followed by….

And all along God continues His passionate pursuit of the human heart as He relentlessly romances us, His image bearers, and calls out to us first one way, then another.

Interestingly, the Hebrew word for Bible is mikra, and means the calling out of God. And isn’t that what the Bible really is? It is the calling out of God to draw mankind back to Himself? To restore our original glory through the finished work of Jesus Christ? He begins with calling out that very first question: “Where are you?” He ends it the same “I stand at the door and knock,” (Revelation 3:20).

The Bible tells us, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).There is not one of us who is completely and perfectly living the life that God had intended in the Garden. But the good news is that Christ in us is the hope of glory (Colossians 1:24-27).It is through that union that glory moments occur. Without Christ in us, we are not even able to detect or reflect God’s glory at all. And yet, that was God’s original intent for us “in the beginning.”

Most people would agree that we are born with an inherent inner nagging that there has to be something more than what we see. Solomon wrote: “He has also set eternity in the hearts of men” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). No matter how humanity has tried to satisfy the hunger, quench the thirst, or mask the reality of God’s existence, eternity still pulls at the heart. A longing to experience God persists. The glory ache is a chronic throb.

But here is the good news! Aren’t you ready for some good news? This is not our final home! We are merely passing through this thing called life. And until those who know Christ leave this earth and enter God’s glory once and for all, until we inhale eternity, He gives us glimpses of glory right here on earth! Moments of sudden glory abound, if we will but take the time to recognize them, to embrace them, to enjoy them … to taste and see that the Lord is good!

You are a Reflection of God’s Glory

Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth - everyone who is called by my name whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made, (Isaiah 43:6-7 NIV).



Have you ever wondered why you were created? You were created for God’s glory and to glorify God (Isaiah 43:7), because it pleased Him to do so (Ephesians 1:5). The concept of glory can be a difficult concept to wrap our human minds around. It seems so otherworldly. We can catch glimpses of its meaning throughout Scripture, but then like a shooting star that appears for a just a moment, it quickly slips away into the vast expanse of God’s infinite wisdom. But let’s see what we can know about this bigger-than-life word.

In the Old Testament, the most common Hebrew word for glory is kabod meaning “weight, honor, esteem.” The Bible associates God’s glory with how He manifests Himself or makes His presence known. Some theologians refer to these as theophanies. He made His presence known in a devouring fire (Exodus 24:16-17), a moving cloud (Exodus 13:21) and a still small voice (Exodus 33:18). His glory is reflected in creation (Psalm 19:1) and in His sovereign control of history (Psalm 135:10-12). His glory is made known through the life of simple human beings like you and me.

The same concept of God’s glory is in the New Testament in the Greek word doxa, which meansglory, honor, and splendor.John wrote, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). After Jesus’ first miracle, turning the water into wine, John wrote: “This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him” (John 2:11). In Hebrews 1:3, the writer reveals this about Jesus: “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.”

The verb form of glory, to glorify, is doxazo, and primarily denotes “to magnify, extol, praise, to ascribe honor to God, acknowledging Him as to His being, attributes, and acts, i.e., His glory. It is the revelation and manifestation of all that He has and is. When we glorify God, we are giving a display or manifestation—or a reflection—of His character. To magnify God is to make Him easy to see. Jesus said that the disciples would glorify God when they bore fruit (John 15:8). Through their actions, they would point others to God and make Him easy to see.

God’s glory is how He makes Himself known. It is almost incomprehensible to think that He would choose mere human beings to accomplish such a task. But as Scripture tells us, we were created in His image (Genesis 1:26) and as a display of His glory (Isaiah 43:7). You were created to make God recognizable to others—to show others what God is like. He makes Himself recognizable to us and through us. The glory of any created thing is seen when it is fully fulfilling the purpose for which it was created…and that includes you and me.

Glory. It’s a big word—a weighty word.

 

NOT GOOD ENOUGH

 

Don’t you know that you yourselves are

 God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you (1 Corinthians 3:16).

 
I’m not _____________ enough. You can fill that blank in with “smart,” “ talented,”  “gifted,” “spiritual,” or any number of positive attributes. But the root source of each one of those lies is “I’m not good enough.”  It is one of the enemy’s favorite weapons and he uses it to keep God’s children in bondage to feelings of inferiority, insecurity, and inadequacy. The bottom line is, the enemy wants you to believe that you are “not enough.”  Period.  But you are enough. You are enough and have been equipped and empowered to do everything that God has called you to do.

It seems the message of “I’m not good enough to earn my way to heaven on my own,” has been transformed into I’m not good enough…period. God created man and woman and said, “It is good.” We are so valuable to God that He gave His only Son to restore our brokenness.

To be honest, I could have been the poster child for this lie. If feeling inadequate was an Olympic event, I would have been on the Corn Flakes box. It was the undercurrent of my entire existence until I finally realized who I was in Christ. Bible teacher Beth Moore said, “In the dead of the night when insecurities crawl on us like fleas, all of us have terrifying bouts of insecurity and panics of insignificance. Our human natures pitifully fall to the temptation to pull out the tape measure and gauge ourselves against people who seem more gifted and anointed by God.”  That was me.

Many women are living in silent defeat, comparing themselves to other women who are living in secret defeat. I’m not a good mother. I’m not a good wife. I’m not a good Christian. I’m not a good witness. I’m not a good housekeeper. I’m not a good decorator. I’m not a good cook. I’m not a good….  Women are caught in a cycle of the “I’m not good enoughs.” One by one the petals fall from the beautiful flower God created us to be. Like ticker tape, our fragmented pieces of confidence litter the streets like the Macy’s parade passing by.

Unfortunately, I wasted many precious years held captive by the enemy’s lies before I held up my chained hands to God and said, “I’m ready for you to set me free.”

Consider this:

Jacob was a liar.

Moses was a stutterer.

Gideon was a coward.

David was an adulterer.

Rahab was a prostitute.

Esther was an orphan.

Balaam’s donkey was…well, a donkey.

And yet God used each one of them to impact His kingdom. 

God doesn’t call us because we are particularly gifted or talented. He uses us because we are obedient and dependent on Him. He doesn’t call the qualified – He qualifies the called.

The truth is, if you have experienced new birth in Christ, you are deeply loved, completely forgiven, fully pleasing and totally accepted by God. Because of Jesus Christ in you, you are equipped and empowered to do all that God has called you to do. You are good enough.

LEAP OF FAITH

The LORD is my strength, my shield from every danger. I trust in him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy” (Psalm 28:7).


I love the story of a tourist visiting the Grand Canyon. As he gazed in wonder at the sight before him, the tourist got too close to the edge, lost his footing and fell over the side. Just before he went out of sight, the man grabbed a scrubby bush and held on for dear life. Filled with terror, he called out toward heaven, “Is anyone up there?” A calm powerful voice came out of the sky, “Yes, there is.” The tourist pleaded, “Can you help me?” The calm voice replied, “I’m sure I can. What seems to be the problem?” The man explained, “I fell over the edge of the canyon and am now dangling in space, holding onto a bush that’s about to come loose. Please help me!” The voice said, “I will. Do you have faith?” The terrified man replied, “Yes! I have strong faith!” The voice said, “Then just let go. Everything will be fine.” There was a tense pause. The tourist then yelled, “Is there anyone else up there?”


How often do we edge our way toward a dangerous cliff of disobedience and find ourselves giving in to temptation?

How many times have we cried out to God to rescue us from some self-made pit into which we have fallen, but dictated how we wanted to be rescued?

We can’t begin to count the number of times when we have foolishly chosen to follow our plan instead of God’s plan for our life.

Now that’s ridiculous.

God has a unique plan for each one of us that is beyond human understanding or expectation.  It is called His will. God has been making His will known from the very beginning of time.

In the Garden of Eden, God revealed to Adam and Eve His will (or plan) for their lives. It is important to note that with the revealed plan God also gave Adam and Eve the choice to follow that plan because He is a loving Father and a gracious God. Knowing that His way was right, God still allowed Adam and Eve to choose the wrong way. They made the wrong choice, but He still loved them and forgave them. He will do the same for you and for me.

The Bible promises that God’s plan is the best plan; the one for which we were created. Psalm 32:8 “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life.” God agrees to not only show us the plan, but He also promises to provide all of the strength and resources needed to carry out that plan. His sufficient and constant power is unleashed by our choice to accept and follow Him.

We were created by the One who knows us best and loves us most. There are no accidents with God. He never has to say, “Oops!” Before we were ever conceived in the heart and mind of man we were conceived in the heart and mind of God. Wanted, loved and planned since before the world began. He had a plan in mind and lovingly, purposefully created us in response to that plan. 

We know that there are days when the will of God seems completely wrong and we simply do not understand. Every moment is pregnant with darkness and our hearts are numb, paralyzed by fear and doubt. We are treading water in the storm tossed sea of life, desperately longing to see Him walking on the treacherous waves toward us, rescue in His hand.

It is in those shadowed moments that we must choose to trust the Plan Maker even though our faith is small, and we cannot understand the plan. His ways are higher than our ways. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. And one day, every one of our question marks will be yanked into exclamation points as we see that high plan as He sees it – perfect.

For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11, NLT).

Today, my friend set aside your meager agenda. Lay down your limited life arrangement and look for God to meet you at the point of surrender - power and victory in His hands. Now that is a great plan.

 

THE GIDEON SYNDROM

Know that the Lord is God. He made us, and we belong to him; we are his people, the sheep he tends (Psalm 100:3, NCV).


Situational ethics is now being taught in many of our public schools. One teacher, wanting to illustrate that human reasoning is many times wrong, gave the following situation to a class of high school students:

"How would you advise a mother who was pregnant with her fifth child based on the following facts: Her husband had syphilis and she had tuberculosis. Their first child was born blind, the second child died. A third child was born deaf while their fourth child had tuberculosis. The mother is considering an abortion. Would you advise her to have one?” 

In view of these facts, most of the students agreed that the mother should have an abortion. The teacher then announced, “If you said ‘yes,’ you would have just killed the great composer, Ludwig von Beethoven.” 

You and I were created as a living, fleshed out depiction of God’s love. We can celebrate the precious truth of Psalm 139:14-16 (NCV), “I praise you because you made me in an amazing and wonderful way. What you have done is wonderful. I know this very well. You saw my bones being formed as I took shape in my mother's body. When I was put together there, you saw my body as it was formed. All the days planned for me were written in your book before I was one day old.” 

Just think of it! God Himself supervised our formation. We were created in love – for love and with a specific and holy purpose in mind. We can rejoice with the Psalmist who wrote, “Know that the Lord is God. He made us, and we belong to him; we are his people, the sheep he tends” (Psalm 100:3, NCV).

Many women buy into the lie that we are little more than puppets in the hands of God; that He created us as tools for His personal use or slaves to do His bidding and carry out His plan. In this verse, “Lord” literally means “Father” or “dearest Daddy,” indicating an intimate relationship between a loving Father and His child.

God undoubtedly has plans for us, but we misunderstand the character and heart of God when we assume those plans serve as a punishment or penalty for not being good enough. Jeremiah understood the heart of God toward His children when he wrote, “I know what I am planning for you," says the Lord. "I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give you hope and a good future” (Jeremiah 29:11, NCV). The best plan, the highest plan for our lives rests in the hands of the One who created us. 

In the early days of the automobile, a man's Model - T Ford stalled in the middle of the road. No matter what he tried, he couldn't get the care started. A chauffeured limousine pulled up behind the stalled car and a wiry, energetic man stepped from the back seat to offer his assistance. After tinkering with the engine for a few moments, the stranger said, "Now try it!" The engine immediately leaped to life. The well-dressed man then identified himself as Henry Ford. "I designed and built these cars," he said, "So I know what to do when something goes wrong."

When our lives are broken, when the plan falls apart and everything goes wrong, we need to wait on God, knowing He created us and knows us best and loves us most.  We are chosen, just like Gideon.

The Bible is filled with men and women who were unlikely servants. Weak, fearful and unwilling, they fought against the call of God, offering excuses and pleading for exemption – just like we do. Gideon was such a man. 

Judges 6:11-16 (NIV) “The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior."  "But sir," Gideon replied, "If the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, 'Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the Lord has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian." The Lord turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?" "But Lord, "Gideon asked, "how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family." The Lord answered, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together." 

Like Gideon, we listen to the wrong voices, bow to the wrong audience, and diligently catalog flimsy excuses in hopes of escaping whatever step of faith God asks us to take.  In doing so, we miss the highest blessings He has to offer.

I want it all! I want everything God has for me! I don’t want to miss a single step on my journey to the heart of God. I want to be the woman God created and now calls me to be. How?

Gideon was a farmer, a family man just trying to earn a living and put food on the table.  Like us, he felt inadequate and unworthy of God's choice. But God saw what Gideon would become, not just what he was. The angel called Gideon a “mighty warrior,” a title that is almost laughable because Gideon certainly didn’t look like a mighty warrior nor did he act like one. Therefore, the only explanation or reason he could possibly become a mighty warrior was because the “Lord would be with him.” Gideon surrendered to God. He didn’t understand God’s plan, but he trusted God and chose to step out in faith.

Just as God chose Gideon, He has chosen you. Just as God equipped and empowered Gideon, he will equip and empower you. Just surrender.

 

GOD, WHERE ARE YOU?

“In all their distress he too was distressed,” (Isaiah 63:9 NIV).

When bad things happen we may never understand the why. God tells us, ‘’For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the LORD. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts’” (Isaiah 55:8-9).

Dr. James Dobson said: “Trying to analyze His [God’s] omnipotence is like an amoeba attempting to comprehend the behavior of man.”  It’s simply not possible. But there is one thing we can be sure of. “All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful,” (Psalm 25:10) whether we understand them or not.

When we encounter difficulties, it is easy to jump to conclusions. We may think God is mad at us or He is punishing us. We wonder if God is not blessing us because we’ve disappointed Him in some way. But all through the Bible we see that some of God’s closest friends experienced the darkest nights.

Joseph suffered. David suffered. The disciples suffered. Elizabeth suffered. Mary suffered. Martha suffered. Mary (Jesus’ mother) suffered. Paul suffered. Jesus suffered. And each one of these men and women were smack dab in the middle of God’s will. The ordinary pabulum of popular religion, of health and prosperity, just doesn’t line up with the suffering we see among some of the most godly men and women in Scripture. The abundant life that Jesus came to give does not come without struggle any more than a butterfly can soar without a struggle from its cocoon. We would never slice open a cocoon and expect to find a butterfly ready to fly. Without the struggle, the butterfly could not grow strong enough to take flight.

Jesus warned us that we would have struggles in this life, and yet struggles always seem to catch me by surprise. “Consider it all joy,” James said, “when you encounter various trials…” (James 1:2, NASB). Notice James said when and not if. Honestly, I wish there were some other way.

Come to think of it, Jesus wished the same. “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will,” (Matthew 26:39). The cross. There was no other way.

Take a look at the names given to the Holy Spirit: Intercessor, Helper, Counselor, and Comforter. The very nature of those names lets us know that we are going to have difficulties this side of heaven, and thankfully God did not leave us to struggle alone. Jesus wept. The Holy Spirit groans. And God’s heart aches. In one beautiful sentence, we catch a glimpse into the heart of God as we go through tough times: “In all their distress he too was distressed,” (Isaiah 63:9). We may not see God’s face during the difficult days of pain, but you can be sure He is there, and many times His face is streaked with tears.

Sometimes life is tough. As we practice Acts 17:28, In Him we live and move and have our being, it does not mean that we will walk down a path void of treacherous twists and turns. It does mean that no matter where the road may lead, we are not alone.

So many times I’ve cried out with King David, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” only to discover that He was right there with me all the time. None of us knows what the future holds. Sometimes we just need to put our hand in God’s and walk around the next corner with Him—even when we don’t understand. In that journey of the unknown, we’re apt to experience moments of sudden glory in well-placed nuggets of gold.