A Whisper of Smoke, A Bad Report

In currently working through a bible study with women in the Washington County Correctional Facility, I asked God to show us something special, and he did. The study is entitled “Breaking Free-The Stories, The Journey”,(updated version Beth Moore 2009). On Day four of Week 2, God gave me a word for us. 

This week the study emphasized 5 benefits of being a spirit-filled Christian.

1. To know God and believe Him.
2. To glorify God by reflecting His character.
3. To find satisfaction in God
4. To experience God’s peace.
5. To enjoy God’s presence.

To begin, I confess I am anxious a lot of the time. So, I spent a lot more time on benefit 4, “To experience God’s peace”.  There are several scriptures that address this issue. Isaiah 26:3, was the scripture that spoke to me.

Those of steadfast mind you keep in peace,
    in peace because they trust in you. Isaiah 26:3                                                                New Revised Standard Version (NRSVUE)

But before I talk about that, I need to give you some background and context.

I have mentioned before in this blog, I was in the military. USN. In my branch of service, we were mandated to move every 2-3 years. Moving, as you know, can be very stressful, especially with family, i.e. teenagers and a husband who will need to find a new job.

Moving in the military goes like this. The Navy hires a moving company to come to your house and crate up everything… And I mean everything. They will pack a full kitchen garbage can if you don’t remove it. Believe it! I found out the hard way. Once the semi is loaded, they drive your stuff to the next duty station. Our job was to drive to the next city and find a place for the moving company to drop off all the boxes and crates filled with all our stuff…  furniture, beds, linens, clothing, kitchen things… all of it. The military doesn’t care if you rent or buy a home, they just need an address.

On this move, it was maybe 10 years before I retired, so we planned to live in Southern California. My husband and I grew up there and I wanted to go back and retire in my home state. My husband was not too thrilled about my retirement plans, but we arrived bright-eyed and bushy tailed in our new city, Oceanside California. It’s about 30 miles from L.A. The hospital where I was to work was on Camp Pendleton Marine Base. There was a war going on at the time and hundreds of Marines were being wounded and killed. I thought I could help Marine families during this crisis. So, with lists of rental property in hand, we set out to find our new home. After much searching, we finally found what we thought was the perfect place to rent. The house was located on a street called El Caballo, the horse. My immediate reaction was this is a sign from God. I was a horsey girl. Then, looking to the garden hill to the right of the drive we noticed a fish shape planted with Ice plant. It was the exact shape of the early Christian fish known as Ichthus (or ichthys) the ancient Greek word for fish (ΙΧΘΥΣ). During times of Roman persecution, early Christians used the fish symbol to safely identify themselves to fellow believers without drawing hostile attention. This early declaration of Faith stood for Jesus Christ God’s Son Savior. So, it seemed automatic.  This is the place for us. But after touring the house, the neighbors came out of their homes and surrounded us saying, “Your lady landlord is awful. She will charge you if anything just randomly breaks. The people who rented this house before you said that she made their life a living hell.” After hearing them out, we were confused, upset, and didn’t know what to think. I mean, what about my sign… the horse, the Fish? We went back to the hotel to have a family discussion. We decided that we should skip dinner and fast and pray asking God what we should do. As it turned out the neighbors gave us a ‘bad report’. They had agreed they would attempt to run off any potential renters because they didn’t want renters in their neighborhood. Unbelievably, this week the same situation happened to a friend of mine. Since it happened twice, I felt this is important for you to know.

She, like us, has been trying to find a new home in a different city, hours away from her current home, that is close to an upcoming church job. So long story longer… she found a cute little Bungalow online, but when she told others about it, colleagues said, “that’s not a good area. There is so much crime in that area you won’t be safe.”

As you may have guessed, this was another “bad report.” The area was not filled with crime; in fact, the people others had warned her about had been the ones living in the house she was planning to rent. They had moved out, so the threat was gone. So why am I telling you this story?

The scripture we read and studied this week reminded me about our experiences. The scripture is Isaiah 26:3 and it says that Jesus can create perfect peace within my mind, despite the storms and trials that rage around us. As a city is besieged by the enemy, we are kept secure by a strong garrison… a mighty army is guarding us. As I was meditating and researching this verse, there was a companion verse in one of my commentaries that used the same words. It is Ps 112: 7-8. In the direct Greek translation the verse says,

“From hearing a wicked (bad) report, he shall not be afraid; His heart is prepared to hope in the Lord”.  Ps 112: 7-8

The New Revised Standard Version (NRSVUE) puts it this way:

⁷ They are not afraid of evil tidings;
    their hearts are firm, secure in the Lord.
⁸ Their hearts are steady; they will not be afraid;
    in the end they will look in triumph on their foes.

Sometimes it is just a whisper of smoke that can derail us. I am confident, in your current situation, you have heard a lot of ‘bad reports’ that can weaken your belief in God. God wants you to know that He can help you and guard your heart with His truth. He can reveal to you a ‘bad report’ when you get one, and you will. He will give us peace and reassurance as we trust Him. We can believe him. We can reflect His glorious character. We can find satisfaction in Him. We can enjoy His presence, and we can experience His peace especially during times of trouble.