Recently C.J. Mahaney posted some material from David Powlison on conflicts within relationship.  I would also highly recommend C.J.’s sermon on James 4:1-13- few things have impacted the way that I view conflicts the way this sermon has (its available to download for free here).

Here’s the second installment in our “five minutes with David Powlison” series (you can access the first one here).

I asked David to elaborate on this quote:

“I have yet to meet a couple locked in hostility (and the accompanying fear, self-pity, hurt, self-righteousness) who really understood and reckoned with their motives. James 4:1–3 teaches that cravings underlie conflicts. Why do you fight? It’s not “because of my wife/husband…”—it’s because of something about you. Couples who see what rules them—cravings for affection, attention, power, vindication, control, comfort, a hassle-free life—can repent and find God’s grace made real to them, and then learn how to make peace.”

—Seeing with New Eyes (P&R, 2003), p. 151.

To hear David expand on this quote, download the 7-minute audio recording here (5.9 MB) or listen online:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The Blazing Center blog recently posted the following- I know it felt very applicable to me.

Too often we try to figure out how God will keep his promises.

Like predicting how the game Mouse Trap will work.   “If God turns this gear, then the ball will roll down this channel and trip that switch, which will turn that wheel, thus dropping the answer to my prayers.”  We try to imagine how God will provide.  “Let’s see, Joe owes me $50.00 and I have a birthday coming up – maybe Grandma will send me some cash.  And if I take a second job, sell my baseball cards, and quit giving to the church for a while…”  Sometimes we just can’t see how God will possibly come through for us.

We never consider that God can open the eyes of the blind with clay and spittle, he can work above, beyond, and even contrary to means…’Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain, yet the valley shall be filled with water’ (2 Kings 3.17).  God would have us depend on him though we do not see how the thing may be brought about…  — Jeremiah Burroughs, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment

God isn’t limited to the means and channels we can see for him to answer our prayers.  We may not see a cloud in the sky, yet God can water our thirsty souls.  God doesn’t need our company to give us money.  He doesn’t check polls and odds.  The disciples saw no natural means for Jesus to feed the multitudes but it wasn’t a problem to the him.  When Jesus needed money for the temple tax he told Peter to throw his line in the lake, and he’d catch a fish with a coin in its mouth.  Imagine Peter trying to figure how that would work.  “Let’s see, if I can get Zacchaeus to go out in the boat, and I ask him for some change, and he slips and drops a coin into the lake and I can get my line into the water quick enough…”

We trust God based on his promises, not on what we can see.  If we can figure it out, we don’t need trust.

If God has promised fire, we don’t need to worry if he has matches.  Our task is to ask and trust, not try to figure out how God will do it.