“Can anyone hide himself in several places, so I shall not see him?” says the Lord.

Jer. 23:24

Stick your head in the sand and you don’t have to know what’s going on around you. People who play this game think that if they deny their problems or put off facing them, the problems  will go away. But the problem with the head in the sand trick is you eventually have to come up for air.

Sometimes we as counselors feel like lifeguards going around the beach and saving people from suffocating by pulling their heads out of the sand and then some of them want to stick their heads back in! I once  had a patient I had rescued say to me,” If I had known sane people were so crazy, I would have stayed crazy.”

Very few problems disappear when we avoid them; we must eventually face what we’re hoping will go away. Denial is like believing in magic. We somehow think  that pretending a problem isn’t there will cause it to be solved by someone else or simply fade away. That rarely happens.

Avoiding pain by procrastination and denial is usually the route to prolonging problems and making them worse. Let’s pull our head out of the sand and face the challenges of life today.

Thought:  Denying my conflicts causes significantly more personal pain than facing them and devising plans to overcome them. I will ask God’s help in facing my problems today.

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us.

Ephesians 2:4

The story is told of a poor woman who traveled a great distance to talk with a famous general. She begged  the general to pardon her son, who was a member  of his army but had been charged under military law for a serious offense. The general said sternly that justice required her son to be put to death. The mother replied, “I’m not asking for justice; I’m begging for mercy.”  The general replied that her son did not deserve mercy. The mother quickly replied, “You couldn’t give my son mercy if he had earned it, and it is mercy I am asking for.” The general granted the mother’s wish, and the son’s life was saved.

Think of the mercy of God. God had a plan for us from the beginning. Mercy was in His mind when He  laid the foundation of the world. From the time that humanity first turned from Him, He offered us ways to return to Him. Finally, God sacrificed His own Son as a way of offering eternal salvation to everyone who depends on Christ’s death and resurrection to pay for our sins.

The mercy of God is incomprehensible to the human mind. The Psalms continually speak of the everlasting mercy of God. We don’t deserve it, but it wouldn’t be mercy if we did.

Thought:  I will thank God today for the richness of His mercy.

Show me Your ways, O Lord.

Psalms 25:4

The Associated Press recently carried a story about a “Cutest Kid in the World” pageant that turned into a free-for-all. The contest was running four hours behind schedule on the first day. Frustration built among the children’s and their “stage mothers.” Finally, one mother climbed up on the stage, grabbed the emcee’s microphone, and yelled for all the parents to get their money refunded. Parents responded and rushed the stage. A computer, a cash box with all the ticket receipts, and the six-foot “Cutest Kid” trophy were all last seen being carried out by parents.

Like those parents, we sometimes get frustrated  and tired of waiting. We want problems to work out on  time the way we want. When they don’t, we take things into our own hands, and the results can be chaotic.

Problems will come in life-that’s a promise. Facing each problem is our problem. Let’s remember that God is close, He cares, and He will be in control if we let Him, even though He won’t always control our crisis the way we, with our limited insight, think He should.

Prayer:  Lord, I absolutely cannot ask you to eliminate all problems from my life or even to resolve them my way. But I can count on you to comfort  and guide me through them  your way.

Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part you will make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Psalms 51:6-7

June had a dream one evening that literally changed her life. In the dream she was a little girl in a beautiful  rose garden. She was wearing the most beautiful white eyelet dress imaginable. But as she turned around, June could see the dress was badly soiled. Suddenly June’s father was in the garden, shouting to her that Jesus was coming to the garden and would be there momentarily. June looked at her dress in dismay. It was a mess. What was she going to do?

Jesus entered the garden. Paralyzed with fear, June stood like a statue. But Jesus came over to her, and He never once looked at the soil on her dress. Instead, He put  His arms around her and gave her a hug. Then He picked her up and put her on the swing. They talked, played, and laughed for a long time. Then Jesus gave little June one more hug, and said good-bye. The child was left with the warm memory of His acceptance and delight in her. When she wandered back to the swing to bask in the memory of  her visit with Jesus she found a white package tied in a beautiful white bow. In it was a brand new white dress.

Prayer:  Thank you, Jesus, that I am dressed in your righteousness today.

Even in laughter the heart may sorrow, and the end of mirth may be grief.

Proverbs 14:13

The Martins lived in a small home in the suburbs. From the outside, nothing about the house looked strange or out of the ordinary-but inside was a different story. The Martins had an eight-ton elephant residing in their living room.

No one said anything about the presence of the pachyderm. In fact, the whole family sat on the couch and watched television through the elephant’s legs. Mrs Martin cleaned massive messes and even dusted around the animal. His trunk often reached to the dining room table to get food, ruining more than a few meals. The family ignored the elephant and did their best to go on as if nothing was wrong.

Finally, however, the elephant could no longer be ignored. The carpet was ruined. The couch sagged. Fleas were all over the premises, and the neighbors were beginning to complain of the stench.

Of course, this is not a true story. It is an illustration of what happens to problems in a family that doesn’t look at the truth; problems are just overlooked or denied. No matter what the problem-alcoholism, depression, physical abuse-they begin to smell when they are not dealt with. 

Prayer:  Lord, help me face problems in my family and do something about them before they reach “elephantissimal” proportions.