Tag Archives: love

Day Sixty-Two: God Gives, God Takes

Posted on by
Reply

READ:  Read the passage, noticing God’s involvement in the story and circling God each time he is mentioned.

JOB 1:1, 8-11, 21

(1) Job was a man who lived in Uz.  He was honest inside and out, a man of his word, who was totally devoted to God and hated evil with a passion….

(8) God said to Satan, “Have you noticed my friend Job?  There’s no one quite like him–honest and true to his word, totally devoted to God and hating evil.”

(9-10) Satan retorted, “so do you think Job does all that out of the sheer goodness of his heart?  Why, no one ever had it so good!  You pamper him like a pet, make sure nothing bad ever happens to him or his family or his possessions, bless everything he does–he can’t lose!

(11) “But what do you think would happen if you reached down and took away everything that is his?  He’d curse you right to your face, that’s what.”….

(21) Naked I came from my mother’s womb, naked I’ll return to the womb of the earth.           God gives, God takes.  God’s name be ever blessed.

THINK:  Notice the interaction between God and Satan.  Does it bother you that God is bartering with Satan with Job’s life?  Is this the God you know?

Notice the words of Job, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, naked I’ll return to the womb of the earth.  God gives, God takes.  God’s name be ever blessed.”  If you lost everything–family, fortune, and eventually your health–would you be able to say such a thing?  Why or why not?  What would have to happen for you to utter similar words–and actually mean them?

PRAY:  Spend time meditating on the gut-honest yet God-honoring words of Job.  Let your emotions serve as a backdrop to your prayers.  Invite the Holy Spirit to speak to you in the silence.

LIVE:  Today as you use different objects (your car, computer, TV, and so on) and as you enter different places (your home, school, workplace, and so on), consider how you might respond if God instantly removed an item without explanation.

What’s funny is that I’ve read this passage many times and have always so compartmentalized what happened to Job in terms of the conversation between God and Satan and how Job had all his land taken away that I’ve missed many of the correlations to my own life sometimes.  Sitting in my current situation, it’s easy to make a comparison of my life to that of Job, in terms of my husband because he’s really the one who has had everything stripped from him.  However, now that I think about it:  I’ve had just enough stripped from me to make me be able to see this passage differently, to make me able to see the correlation.

Over the course of my life, I’ve had many things wrenched away from me.  But, every time, after the hurting was over, and after I’d finished whining and complaining about whatever it was that I lost, I was able to see that loss was not the prevailing theme.  I had gained some things too.  But what’s more important is that the value of the things that I have gained far outweighs the hurt that losing them caused.

To date, most of the things that I’ve lost or that have been taken away from me, have not been given back to me.  Some of those things, I wouldn’t want back.  Some of those things I like to think I might want back, but I cannot imagine that my life would be better if I got them.  So for now, there’s only one thing that has been taken from me that I know I will receive back, and can hardly wait until it is returned.  My husband.  But, until then, I know that God is working in the both of us, preparing us to be even better for each other than when we were separated.  But not just better for each other.  Better for the work he has planned for us as a couple when he returns.  Better servants.  Better friends.  Better parents.  And more humble.  More submissive to God’s will and plan for our lives.  Ready to answer whatever call he has placed on our lives because we will have conquered something that we never thought we could have.

So…until that glorious day, I will continue to walk, with my head held high, waiting expectantly, hopeful that it is sooner than later, but with the knowledge that whenever that day comes, I will be fully prepared for it, and the world my husband and I will re-enter as a couple will have been being prepared for us.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you so much for all you do for us.  Thank you for this world that you have so lovingly created and that each one of us has been created in your image.  Thank you for loving us so much that you gave up your son to die on the cross that we all might have a chance to spend eternity in paradise with you.

Be with us Lord.  You know that we are just dust.  You know how easy it is to get attached to the fleeting things of this world, and how easy it is to forget that we would have nothing but that, by grace, you have decided to gift us with all that we have.  Lord, help us to be thankful for everyone and everything in our lives that we have received from you.  And help us to see that THAT is everything we have.  Help us to remember to hold all those things and all those people with an open hand so that it doesn’t hurt quite so much when you ask for them back, or when you require that we sacrifice them.

Thank you, Lord, for everyone who has stopped by this humble, little blog and decided to return.  I have no words but the ones you give me.  And Lord, please, when the words do not come from you, don’t let them come at all.

I thank you for today.  For every breath I was given.  For every breath my children took.  For every breath my husband takes all the way over in Kansas.  I thank you for my family.  For my friends.  For my mentors.  And Lord, I thank you for the people who have hurt me, because that hurt has caused me to have to turn to you if I am going to heal.

I praise your Holy Name.  And all this I pray in your son’s precious name, the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Day Sixty-One: Justice Served

Posted on by
Reply

READ:  Take some times before your begin to sit in silence.  Let your thoughts settle.  Now, read the passage once silently.

ESTHER 7:3-10

(3)  Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor in your eyes, O King, and if it please the king, give me my life, and give my people their lives.

(4)  “We’ve been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed–sold to be massacred, eliminated.  If we had just been sold into slavery, I wouldn’t even have brought it up; our troubles wouldn’t have been worth bothering the king over.”

(5)  King Xerxes exploded, “Who?  Where is he?  This is monstrous!”

(6) “An enemy.  An adversary.  This evil Haman,” said Esther.

Haman was terror-stricken before the king and queen.

(7-8) The king, raging, left his wine and stalked out into the palace garden.  Haman stood there pleading with Queen Esther for his life–he could see that the king was finished with him and that he was doomed.  As the king came back from the palace garden into the banquet hall, Haman was groveling at the couch on which Esther reclined.  The king roared out, “Will he even molest the queen while I’m just around the corner!”

When that word left the king’s mouth, all the blood drained from Haman’s face.

(9) Harbona, one of the eunuchs attending the king, spoke up:  “Look over there!  There’s the gallows that Haman had built for Mordecai, who saved the king’s life.  It’s right next to Haman’s house–seventy-five feet high!”

The king said, “Hang him on it!”

(10) So Haman was hanged on the very gallows that he had built for Mordecai.  And the king’s hot anger cooled.

THINK:  Read this story of justice being served again, this time aloud.  Listen specifically for a word or a phrase that touches your heart in some way.  When you finish reading, close your eyes.  Recall the word and sit quietly, mulling it over.  After a few minutes, write the word down.  Don’t explain it or say more about it; just note it.

PRAY:  Read the passage aloud again, this time looking for a person or an action that accentuates your internal picture of God’s justice or heightens your understanding of how he governs the world.  Perhaps it will be Haman’s response to his fate or King Xerxes’ authoritative command.  How is this depiction of God’s justice meaningful to you today?  Again sit in silence.  Briefly note what comes to you.

LIVE:  Read the text one final time.  This time, listen for what God, through the text, is inviting your to do or become.  Perhaps he is offering a new perspective on how he cares when unjust things happen to you, just at King Xerxes was outraged to discover the threat to Esther’s people.  Or maybe you sense that God is calling you to take a stand for justice in a particular situation, like Esther did.  Write down what you are being invited to do.

MY TURN:

I’ve read this story many times, and I admit that I always feel a little bit guilty at how satisfying it is to see Haman get his come-uppance.  But this time, the word that stood out to me was “Monstrous.”  I know God’s timing is not my timing, so things happen with him when they are supposed to happen to achieve His greatest Glory.  The problem that has created for me, at times, however, is that sometimes it can look like God does not really look at injustice as monstrous.  Most times what it ends up looking like, to me, is like He’s choosing to ignore my pleas for justice because it isn’t delivered as swiftly as I’d like, or according to my terms.  From there, it’s all too easy for The Enemy to get his foot in the door and start with his lies about how this apparent unwillingness on the part of God to answer my prayers must mean that He doesn’t really care about me as much as the Bible would lead me to believe; that, maybe, the Bible is true for everyone but me.

What do you think?  Is it just possible, then, that this is why we are cautioned to take captive every thought, holding it up to the light of scripture to see if it holds true, so that we can demolish every argument that sets itself up against the knowledge of scriptures (2 Corinthians 10:5)?

I know I’ve spent a lot of time since April 2011 wondering just how much God really cares about the injustices that have happened to me and my family.  I’ve come to this conclusion.  Because we live in a fallen world, injustices are going to happen.  The world is full of people who just want what they want.  Most of the time, it’s nothing person when they get what they want at the expense of someone else.  Most of the time, they simply were not thinking about how their actions would affect anyone else.  One thing I’ve always known, but have finally started to truly plumb the depths of is the idea that there is nothing I can do that will have NO impact on somebody else (well, except for choosing which pair of socks I’m going to wear today).  We were created to be in relationships.  As a result, everything we do will have an effect on someone else, because it can’t NOT.  And though I might have to play some weird, far-fetched game of “Six Degrees of Separation” to be able to figure out exactly how or if George Clooney’s recent marriage has affected my life, if it has at all, God already knows it.  In fact, He would have anticipated it.  My part:  to come alongside Him, in agreement, and allow Him to do in my life whatever it is He is needs to do in my.

Years ago, when I read the story of Esther, I had a hard time wrapping my head around the idea that Esther was put on this Earth at precisely the time she was because the job she had to do was hers to do.  I figured:  Anyone could do that job.  Why would Mordecai say that perhaps she was put there for such a time as this?  It could’ve been any other Hebrew girl.  While it’s true that God could’ve chosen anybody to play this role, He chose Esther.  That’s all that matters.  Though he could’ve picked anyone to walk the path that I’m walking (and several people have walked a similar path before me), He chose me for this and this for me.  So, for such a time as this, I have been created.  I need to trust that God knew what he was doing and that He knows what He is doing.  He has a plan.  All I have to do is let Him work it and be available when He calls me.  The injustice that has occurred to me and my family:  I’ll let Him worry about that until He shows me the next step.

Day Fifty-Nine: Just Such a Time

Posted on by
Reply

READ:  As you read this story, imagine how you might feel if you were Esther:  You were chosen to be queen by a king who doesn’t know of your ethnicity, and now you’re hearing word of a political plot that will wipe out your people and your family.

ESTHER 4:7-14

(7-8) Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him.  He also told him the exact amount of money that Haman had promised to deposit in the royal bank to finance the massacre of the Jews.  Mordecai also gave him a copy of the bulletin that had been posted in Susa ordering the massacre so he could show it to Esther when he reported back with instructions to go to the king and intercede and plead  with him for her people.

(9-11) Hathach came back and told Esther everything Mordecai had said.  Esther talked it over with Hathach and then sent him back to Mordecai with this message:  “Everyone who works for the king here, and even the people out in the provinces, knows that there is a single fate for every man or woman who approaches the king without being invited:  death.  The one exception is if the king extends his gold scepter; then he or she may live.  And it’s been thirty days now since I’ve been invited to come to the king.”

(12-14) When Hathach told Mordecai what Esther had said, Mordecai sent her this message:  “Don’t think that just because you live in the king’s house you’re the one Jew who will get out of this alive.  If you persist in staying silent at a time like this, help and deliverance will arrive for the Jews from someplace else; but you and your family will be wiped out.  Who knows?  Maybe you were made queen for just such a time as this.”

THINK:  Focus your attention on either Esther’s fear of putting her life on the line for her people or Mordecai’s challenge to her in the face of her fear.  Meditatively read that part of the passage again.  Picture the speaker, including the situation from which the words are spoken.  Select one word or phrase to contemplate during your prayer time.

PRAY:  Prayerfully ponder a word or phrase from Mordecai or Esther and identify a memory that relates.  Maybe at one time you were called on to do something courageous–big or small–but couldn’t bring yourself to do it.  Or maybe you wonder why God would allow Esther to bear such a heavy responsibility.  Perhaps you were recently helped because someone took a stand for you.

Invite God the Father into your meditation.  Try not to analyze or push toward solutions.  Just notice what comes up and show it to him, as a child might show Daddy a favorite toy that’s broken or tell him about a fascinating discovery.

LIVE:  Take some time now to rest with the Father.  If you have more to say in your conversation with him about Esther’s dilemma, continue it.  If you have other subjects you’d like to talk to him about, do so.  But if you want to just sit in the presence of your loving Father, go ahead.

Dear Lord Jesus, I don’t know where to begin with this.  There are so many thoughts running through my head, and none of them seem to go together.  So…I will just offer up a prayer of peace and protection for all the people around the world that you know are suffering under the weight of fear of having to act courageously today.  Lord, we usually know when you are calling us to do something that we do not want to do.  We usually know when you are asking us because there is this overwhelming sense of not being able to get out from under the request.  For people who are struggling tonight, Lord, who know what you have called them to do but who are worried or anxious at the outcome, I pray for strength and courage.  Your word says to “fear not” and to “be anxious for nothing” but, sometimes, Lord, that is a tall order.  We know that you are the creator of the universe and that you know our comings and goings and the beginning from the end and that there is nothing you have asked us to do that you are unable to strengthen us to do, and there is nowhere you have asked us to go, that you have not already prepared the way.  We know that you only give us enough light for the step we’re on, or for the step you want us to move to.  In a world full of pre-planning, that kind of faith is hard.  Please be patient with us, Lord.  For we trust you, but we need help remembering that we can.  Sometimes we need help remembering that knowing you can help us is not always associated with knowing you will.  Help us to recall those times in the past when we have been afraid, but you met us there and guided us, so that we can take that next step in faith.  Help us to remember that we have, indeed, been created for such a time as this, for each and every step you call us to make.

In Jesus’ Name, I pray.  Amen.

Day Fifty-Eight: Zeal for Righteousness

Posted on by
2

READ:  Nehemiah 13:7-13

(7-9) I arrived in Jerusalem and learned of the wrong that Eliashib had done in turning over to him a room in the courts of The Temple of God.  I was angry, really angry, and threw everything in the room out into the street, all of Tobiah’s stuff.  Then I ordered that they ceremonially cleanse the room.  Only then did I put back the worship vessels of The Temple of God, along with the Grain-Offerings and the incense.

(10-13) And then I learned that the Levites hadn’t been given their regular food allotments.  So the Levites and singers who led the services of worship had all left and gone back to their farms.  I called the officials on the carpet, “Why has The Temple of God been abandoned?”  I got everyone back again and put them back on their jobs so that all Judah was again bringing in the tithe of grain, wine, and oil to the storerooms.  I put Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and a Levite named Pedaiah in charge of the storerooms.  I made Hanan son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah, their right-hand man.  These men had a reputation for honesty and hardwork.  They were responsible for distributing the rations to their brothers.

THINK:  In these earlier days, what do you notice about the way of life God required his people to abide by?  Why do you think this was important to him?  What do you think their relationship with God was like?  How might it be different from your relationship with him?

Stuffy.  Stifled.  Strict.  Oppressive.  Distinct.  Sanctified.  Disciplined.  Conspicuous.  Maybe a bit peculiar.  Do any of these describe the way you feel when you think about how God has asked His people to conduct themselves?  It’s not any wonder that so many people have a view of God as rule-driven and a relationship with Him as being no fun.  I know, in my own life, having had a hard time trusting the truth from the Bible about how God thinks about me, these words just amplified the thoughts and feelings that I would never measure up, that I would never be able to be good enough, or to do enough good to deserve what His Son did to save Creation from an eternity in Hell.

Now I know the depths of the truth of those thoughts and feelings, but I also know that they are exactly the reason Christ had to come and die on the cross.  The truth is:  if any one person could ever be good enough to live this life and not need Jesus as a sacrifice, then God would not have had to send Him.  Because if one person could do it, then everyone would have to have within themselves the ability to save themselves.  And we simply do not.  We are not able to save ourselves.  Period.

But what does that have to do with the question asked above, about why God requires His people to abide by so many rules?  If we are going to call ourselves His people, should there not be something markedly different about our lives, so that others living around us can see that we are different.  Even if that difference just looks odd or peculiar or conspicuous, at first.  And wouldn’t the fact that we do look odd, different, peculiar or conspicuous give us that many more opportunities to share the reason for our faith, to share the reason why we have chosen – on faith – to walk this absurd-looking path, that shouldn’t logically work, but seems to anyway?

We are called to be in the world, but not of the world.  What that means to me is that while we are here our lives should look different enough to make people wonder what in the world it is that makes us have so much peace and joy when the world is in a tailspin of chaos and agony and fear.  IN the world, but not OF the world.

But beyond that, God is holy.  If we are going to call ourselves His children, if we hope for Him to call us His children, we have to live our lives by the rules that He has set.  Who are we to question God’s “because I said so”?  If we know anything about God, it is that nothing happens without a reason.  Our inability to see the reason or to understand His motives shouldn’t matter.  Just like with our own children, who do not always get to know the why, for a myriad of reasons, neither do we.  And just like with our own children, who sometimes eventually reach an age where they are mature enough to handle hearing the reasoning behind the instruction, we also SOMETIMES reach a maturity level where God will reveal to us His behind-the-scenes work.  Then, what was so confusing or frustrating, becomes so perfectly clear that we wonder at why we ever questioned Him in the first place.

PRAY:  Become aware of God’s presence with you now.  Share your thoughts with him, including what you noticed about your own relationship with him.  Let this lead you into silent prayer, pondering what’s happened in your life since you last talked with him and whether there is anything you need to clear up.  Listen for what he might be saying in response to you.  If you don’t sense him saying anything directly, be open to other ways he might try to communicate with you (such as through other people or recent experiences).

Dear Lord, You are omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent.  You alone can claim this.  You alone know the beginning from the end, and You Alone will decide what and when I get to know the ins and outs of even my own life.  Forgive me when I have failed to trust your sovereignty.  Forgive me when I have smirked at your holiness.  Forgive me when I have abused your grace by sinning and then just asking for your forgiveness with no real desire to repent and turn away from the actions you consider abhorrent.  I thank you that you remember that I am just dust.  I thank you that you saw me in all my sinfulness, knowing that I would let you down over and over and over again, and still decided that there was something in me worth saving.  Thank you that you love your creation so very much and that you are not willing that any should perish.

Abba Father, I do not know  why you have led my family to this fight we find ourselves in right now, but what I do know is you are leading us through it.  I know that every hard thing I have ever gone through has strengthened me for where I am right now.  And I know that all the hard things I am going through now are strengthening me for fights still to come.

Lord, when I think of our situation now, I envision an arrow that has been shot at a target.  An arrow does not have to try to find the target on its own.  Never once have I seen an arrow, in the air, wondering where it was supposed to go.  Help me to remember that you are the perfect archer, and you hit all the targets you aim at, and you nail the target every time.  It is humbling that you would pick me to be an arrow.  I desperately want to hit the target at which you have aimed me.

Some targets are closer and the path has been a straighter, faster shot.  Some targets are farther away, and you have had to aim higher to get a good trajectory and account for the wind, so the path takes longer than I want.  I can see the target.  I know where I am supposed to go.  I desperately want to get there, but I have to take the path that has been set for me.    Forgive me for doubting you in my frustration at how long the path is taking.  Help me to remember that I have hit every target you have selected for me, and for which I have allowed you to use me.  Your purposes will always be satisfied.  Some people will choose to be used by you.  Others will not.  Help me to remember, that when I am brave enough to allow myself to be used by you, Your Will is going to be accomplished.  Remind me of that when I start to feel like the path is taking too long.  I will arrive precisely on time for Your Agenda to be satisfied.  Never too soon.  Never too late.

And Dear Lord, help me to remember, when I cannot see the target, that you do not shoot an arrow just to shoot an arrow. Your Word does not return to you void.  Therefore, if you have sent it out into the world, it will happen.  By the same token, if you have fired me as an arrow, you will hit your mark.

All this I pray in Your Son’s Precious and Holy Name, Amen.

LIVE:  Think about the passion Nehemiah demonstrates for honoring God.  What would your life look like with more passion?  How might you honor God with your lifestyle the way Nehemiah desires to honor God?  Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence. …Love others as well as you love yourself”  (Matthew 22:37, 29).  With this command in mind, think of one small new habit you could cultivate that would honor God in a particular area of your life.”

Day Fifty-Seven: Burden for the Poor

Posted on by
Reply

LIVE:  In preparation for this lesson, fast from one meal.  (Use discernment regarding fasting; check with your doctor before doing it.  If you can’t do it for whatever reason, that’s okay.)  When you feel the pangs of hunger, use that discomfort as a catalyst for this devotion.

READ:  Nehemiah 5:6-11  –  Read this slowly.

(6-7) I got really angry when I heard their protest and complaints.  After thinking it over, I called the nobles and officials on the carpet.  I said, “Each one of you is gouging his brother.”

(7-8) Then I called a big meeting to deal with them.  I told them, “We did everything we could to buy back our Jewish brothers who had to sell themselves as slaves to foreigners.  And now you’re selling these same brothers back into debt slavery!  Does that mean that we have to buy them back again?”

They said nothing.  What could they say?

(9) “What you’re doing is wrong.  Is there no fear of God left in you?  Don’t you care what the nations around here, our enemies, think of you?

(10-11) “I and my brothers and the people working for me have also loaned them money.  But this gouging them with interest has to stop.  Give them back their foreclosed fields, vineyards, olive groves, and homes right now.  And forgive your claims on their money, grain, new wine, and olive oil.”

THINK:  While in Babylonian exile as a cupbearer to a foreign king, Nehemiah has a God-given burden:  to rebuild the ransacked walls of the forgotten city of Jerusalem and, in the process, to restore the hope of his people.  But in the midst of this massive architectural restoration project, the people are being abused by their own countrymen.

Nehemiah’s burden grows larger.  His burden now includes poverty and injustice.  Imagine yourself in Nehemiah’s shoes today.  What does this burden feel like?  Consider your empty stomach and write down how you feel.

PRAY:  Begin praying by listening for God’s heart regarding justice.  Ask him to show you people who need your prayers.  Then ask him to point out when you need to speak up on their behalf, and ask for the courage to actually follow through with it.

One thing I’ve discovered about justice over the course of our situation is that it is seldom swift.  Maybe as swift as possible, but never as swift as we’d like.  Think about it.  Whenever someone has done you wrong, is it ever remedied fast enough?  When the courts get involved, things slow down to a snail’s pace.  Then, evidence or no, the case goes the way the people trying it think it ought to go, or whichever way is going to make the appropriate people look as good as possible, or prevent them from looking horrible.  I don’t mean to sound cynical, but the truth of the matter is:  the truth rarely counts for much.  Except with God.

God commands us to seek justice, to love mercy, to take care of the widows and orphans.  Seems like those commands match up with the burdens of poverty and injustice Nehemiah was feeling.  Sad to think so little has changed over the years.  Jesus talks about how, when we visit the people in prison, or feed people without food, or clothe the naked, we are doing the same to him.  The book of James warns against seeing someone cold and telling them to “Go, in peace, and be filled” without offering them what they need to actually be filled because judgment is without mercy to those who’ve shown no mercy.

As I sit in my hotel room, waiting to leave to go visit my husband who sits in jail, this verse hits home.  I am getting to visit my husband because of the people around me who’ve fed and clothed a widow and her orphaned children.  This is a bit of a stretch, I realize.  My husband is not dead.  My children still have both of their parents.  But considering our source of support has been taken away from us, we resemble a widow and orphans.  I do not wish this position on anyone, really; but the lessons it is teaching are invaluable.  And humbling.

Today, I don’t really need to pray for God to show me who needs my prayers.  I’m about to go to a place full of people I may never know that need prayers, who have families that need prayers.  Though I am not personally in a position to be able to physically or financially help these people, my husband has been doing all he can to help those around him who’ve not received justice from one of the only systems in the world that – supposedly – prides itself on preferring that 100 guilty men would go free than one innocent man would go to prison.

Even so…Dear Heavenly Father, You alone know for what purposes you have placed each one of us here.  If there are people around us that need what we have to offer, please show us.  If “all we can do” is pray for them, let their names be on our lips in prayer as often as we pray.  If you have given us the financial wherewithal to help those folks, give us an urge to do so that we cannot ignore.  If they merely need a listening ear, may we be willing to be inconvenienced enough to give them the time they need.  Relationships are messy and dirty, Lord.  Help us to be willing to get dirty and messy with the people who need it the most, and let us do so without reservation when that’s what you require.       In Jesus Name, I pray, AMEN.

Day Fifty-Six: Reflections on Week 8

Posted on by
Reply

I am in Kansas (and sometimes Missouri) visiting my husband.  As I was driving to my hotel yesterday, I was looking at all the perfectly manicured fields of crops.  I was thinking that we’ve come a long way since the days of Little House on the Prayer when one man and a horse would plow a field.  Now we have tractors with GPS designed to make sure that farmers can get the maximum amount of usage out of their fields as possible.  The GPS directs the tractor and the farmer gets to sit in the sometimes-air conditioned cab checking Facebook or Pinterest (that’d be me), while the tractor practically drives itself.  It is a model of efficiency.  Albeit an expensive model.  Any farmer will tell you that the equipment that comes with being a “for-profit” farmer (and I use that term fairly loosely) is quite expensive.  That got me to thinking:  what would I be willing to pay for someone to sit on high and direct my life so that I got the maximum amount of use out of it and precious little wasted space, all my rows would be plowed straight, and all I had to do is sit back and take direction.  It seems it’d be priceless.  Then, it occurred to me:  I already have it.  I just forget to turn it on.

How many times, as Christians, do we – as adopted sons and daughters, having access to all the power given to Christ – forget to appropriate that power as we go about our daily lives.  All we have to do is go to God in prayer.  And yet…we choose to see if we can do it on our own, and wonder why we live so much of our lives frustrated!

Today, as I was on my way to visit my husband, a song came on the radio I’ve never heard before.  It’s called “Say Amen” by a group called Finding Favour (go check out the video here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRcvcF_0_9M).  There’s a line in the song:  Anybody here who’s walked through the fire – say Amen.  It’s referencing the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego being thrown into the fiery furnace in the book of Daniel.

I remember when the ladies in our church did the Precepts Bible Study by Kay Arthur on the book of Daniel.  When we did the chapter that covered this story, my family was still in the early stages of our current ordeal (we had not even been to trial yet).  Anyway…I remember thinking, at that time, that we were sitting in the fire, and I was starting to feel scorched.  HA!  We were getting closer to the furnace, and it was hot.  That’s for certain!  We had not been thrown in yet.

Then, for the first year Rabbit was gone, I thought, for sure, that I was going to be consumed in the flames.  Surely, it was just a matter of time.  But, day after day, I got a little stronger, a little more determined, and started looking around, noticing that I was not burning up.  I was no less mad about being in the fire, or at the insane miscarriage of justice that landed us there, but I was not burning up.  Yeah…it’s hot. I’ve sweated plenty.  But I’ve not been consumed.  My family has not been consumed.  My husband has not been consumed.  Our spirits have not been quenched.  Instead, we have been made to see that hat Satan really wants is to destroy the family.  Our family.  He hates the family.  And he knows that if he can destroy the family then he will have effectively destroyed the church!

This whole time I’ve been thinking that we’ve been making it because we are just too stubborn to quit.  And while I think that’s partially true, it’s not the whole truth.  As my mom once told me, you can break a stubborn horse.  But a strong-spirited horse will never be broken.  It may appear broken for a bit, but it is merely waiting for the chance to break free!

I’ve been using the word surreal to describe how it feels to be walking through this and not feel like I’m falling apart.  That’s not the right word.  Supernatural is a better word.

There are marriages and families falling apart every day, and even more than normal amounts for inmates.  Why should it be that our family has not only NOT fallen apart, but is easily as strong as before in most ways, and EVEN STRONGER in others if not for divine intervention, if not for the Grace and mercy of a Heavenly Father, and His Son standing in the fiery furnace with us?!  It just doesn’t happen?!  It’s just not logical.

Those are just a couple of the things that occurred to me over this last week that I thought I would share with you.

I don’t have all the answers to my own stuff, so I could not dream of giving you answers.  But what I can tell you is who does.  Turn on your GPS, folks.  Let God’s Position System direct you in the path you should go.  Even if it means you end up walking toward and into a fiery furnace.  As the saying goes, “If He leads you to it, He’ll lead you through it.”  But the best thing about God is that He goes before you, preparing the way.  If you are in the furnace, trust that God was there before you, beckoning to you, asking you to endure the refiner’s fire, so that you can come even closer to bearing the image of your Creator.  He wants to burn off all the impurities in you so that He can see His reflection in you!  For that kind of work, He has to be right up there, at the furnace, turning you over and over in his hands, pulling you out, checking on you, looking to see if all the dross has burned off yet.  If not, he’ll put you back.  But not forever.  But…hot or not, He’s still there.

Anyway…that’s all I’ve got for today.  I hope you had a good weekend.  Talk to you tomorrow!

Day Fifty-Four: Open Arms

Posted on by
Reply

READ:  Read the passage several times.

2 Chronicles 30:1, 5-9

(1, 5) Then Hezekiah invited all of Israel and Judah, with personal letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, to come to The Temple of God in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover to Israel’s God…. And they sent out the invitation from one end of the country to the other, from Beersheba in the south to Dan in the north:  “Come and celebrate the Passover to Israel’s God in Jerusalem,”  No one living had ever celebrated it properly.

(6-9) The king gave the orders, and the couriers delivered the invitation from the king and his leaders throughout Israel and Judah.  The invitation read:  “O Israelites!  Come back to God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, so that he can return to you who have survived the predations of the kings of Assyria.  Don’t repeat the sins of your ancestors who turned their backs on God, the God of their ancestors who then brought them to ruin–you can see the ruins all around you.  Don’t be pigheaded as your ancestors were.  Clasp God’s outstretched hand.  Come to his Temple of holy worship, consecrated for all time.  Serve God, your God.  You’ll no longer be in danger of his hot anger.  If you come back to God, your captive relatives and children will be treated compassionately and allowed to come home.  Your God is gracious and kind and won’t snub you–come back and he’ll welcome you with open arms.

THINK:  As you read, listen for a new perspective on the way life is, or the way God is, that stands out to you today.  Perhaps you will notice that God can have dangerously “hot anger,” yet under other circumstances he is tender and open to a people who have walked far away from intimacy with him.  Maybe you’ll be struck by the pigheadedness that kept some Israelites from taking “God’s outstretched hand.”

PRAY:  Study the perspective you’ve absorbed, looking at it from different angles and holding it up against different experiences you’ve hand.  Do you ever fear approaching God because you worry he might snub you?  Have you ever refused grace?  Consider a specific situation.  Then become aware of God’s presence with you.  Tell him what was going on during that time.  How does the God of this passage (offering his “outstretched hand” to the Israelites) compare to your image of God in that situation?

I have frequently worried that God might snub me and, many times, that fear has kept me from approaching him boldly.  It has kept me from feeling like I could hold Him to His word.  The Bible is full of promises.  I know this.  But it’s so much easier to believe that those promises will hold true for others than for me, especially when I’m in the throes of a pity party.  I constantly have to remind myself of the verse that says that God is no respecter of persons.  I know that verse was referring to judgment, but wouldn’t it also extend to his promises.  If His grace is sufficient for you, then it must be sufficient for me too.  If his provision, his timing, his love are always perfect for you, then, they must always be perfect for me, as well.  So then…that means the problem is not God, but me.  Refusing to reach out and grab hold of God’s hand because I fear He will snub me says more about me than it does about him.  It says I have a faith problem.

A friend of mine once gave me an analogy that, I think, fits this situation perfectly.

Imagine there’s a chair in front of you.  Do you ever wonder if the chair is going to hold you up before you sit in it?  If it looks rickety, maybe.  But if it looks new, if it looks sound, you just sit.  You don’t stop and wonder.  That’s faith.  It isn’t faith until you place your bottom on the seat and let it have your full weight.  It’s not faith to think the chair can hold you.  It’s not even faith to know that the manufacturer says it can hold up to 200 pounds.  Faith comes with the sitting and resting on the chair, trusting that it won’t crumble under you and let you fall hard on your backside.

I have to admit:  for a huge chunk of my life, I have not had that kind of faith.  I’ve had the dip-my-toes-in-the-water kind of faith.  Yes, I can swim.  But, yes, I could also drown.  I’ve let fear of drowning keep me from plunging into the depths of this walk of Christianity.  This time 18+ months ago, I was operating on faith.  I took a plunge.  A scary one.  And for the better part of the last 18 months, it has felt like a sat on a chair that gave way underneath my weight.  But I think what I’m finally starting to see is that I had constructed the chair that I tried to sit on.  Jesus was not my foundation.  No…my foundation had been the carefully constructed plan I had made for my life, and that had pretty much worked out the way I thought it would.  Sure, there had been times when all I had to go on was actual faith.  Many times.  What I have discovered over this last year-and-a-half is that those time when I was operating purely on faith in the Lord were times when I was struggling, times when I knew there was no way I could help myself out of the situation I was in.  All I could do was obey God, every day, and pray that He knew what was best for me and that His plan would work itself out.  And it did.  Every.  Single.  Time.  That simple fact is the one thing that has kept me afloat since this whole thing started.  Everything hard I’ve ever had to go through, for which I’ve had nothing to rely on other than God, has worked out just exactly the way it needed to.  And, it was not over one second sooner than it needed to be, and it didn’t last one second longer than He needed it to.

Have I snubbed God’s grace?  Sure.  Who hasn’t?  But the one area where I have not, the one area that I never really realized that grace was active and abundant in my life:  perseverance.  It takes grace to persevere.  There have been many days where, by the end of the day, I was “SO DONE.”  But the grace of God is that tomorrow does not have to be like today.  And I can get up and do what I need to do tomorrow because I need to get up and do it.  I have children at home, watching me.  If I give up, what kind of example will I be setting?  Do they see me low?  Of course.  There have been days when I have told them that I just need a “mental health day” and they have to go to their rooms and I go to mine, and “we” let me recover.  My youngest is not fond of having to spend too much time alone, so this is practically punishment for him.  This means that I have to use a lot of finesse when I am breaking this news to him.  Lots of reassurance that he is NOT in trouble is often needed.  So, I cannot take these days often.  Besides, it feels indulgent.  And not in a good way.  I know, deep down, what I really NEED most on those days is to get up and do something for someone else.  But sometimes, it takes me a little bit to remember that.  So, once I do, I get up, get over myself, and get on with life.  I think that is a measure of grace as well.

So, dear readers, I don’t know where you are in life, right now.  Maybe you are going through a hard time and feel like nothing is making sense and like you are struggling just to make it through the day.  Maybe you are a mom, living for naptime and bedtime because you feel like you are going to go crazy.  Maybe you are a dad just hoping you don’t screw up your kids because you are the man of the house and there is more pressure associated with this job than you ever dreamed.  I have just one prayer for you, just one word of encouragement.

PERSEVERE.

Keep going.  Don’t stop.  God will meet you every single step of the way.  When you find that He isn’t meeting you, or you feel like you haven’t heard from Him in a while, pull back from your “schedule” and see if maybe you haven’t run ahead of God.  He has plenty of grace for the step you are on, but you have to stay on the step He wants you on.  Otherwise, you are just running on your own steam.  And, eventually, you are going to run out of steam altogether.

LIVE:  Close your time today by saying the Lord’s Prayer.  Speak the words aloud very slowly.  Picture the righteous but compassionate God described in this passage, the One who is hearing your prayer now:  “Our Father in heaven, reveal who you are.  Set the world right, do what’s best–as above, so below.  Keep us alive with three square meals.  Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.  Keep up safe from ourselves and the Devil.  You’re in charge!  You can do anything you want!  You’re ablaze with beauty!  Yes.  Yes.  Yes.  (Matthew 6:9-13)

I pray you all have a blessed day!  Take care of yourselves.  And remember, God gives us EACH DAY our DAILY BREAD.  We don’t get to keep yesterday’s bread.  And he won’t lend us the bread for tomorrow.  Trust that he has rationed you just enough bread for today because He loves you fully.  Today.  And because He wants you to trust Him for tomorrow’s ration tomorrow, He has set aside for you a ration for tomorrow as well.  He is already there.  He has a place prepared for you.  So, walk today, trusting that today He’s got you covered; and tomorrow, He will too.

Day Fifty-Three: F.R.O.G. – Fully Rely on God

Posted on by
Reply

READ:  Read this passage aloud slowly.

2 Chronicles 16:7-9

Just after that, Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said, “Because you went for help to the king of Aram and didn’t ask God for help, you’ve lost a victory over the army of the king of Aram.  Didn’t the Ethiopians and Libyans come against you with superior forces, completely outclassing you with their chariots and cavalry?  But you asked God for help and he gave you victory.  God is always on the alert, constantly on the lookout for people who are totally committed to him.  You were foolish to go for human help when you could have had God’s help.  Now you’re in trouble–one round of war after another.”

THINK:  Read the passage again slowly.  Previously Asa had been a good king.  After hearing convicting prophecy, he “took a deep breath, then rolled up his sleeves, and went to work” cleaning out the temples (15:8).

(1) Which phrase or idea sticks with you?

…that Asa “went for help to the king of Aram and didn’t ask God for help”

…that “God is always on the alert, constantly on the lookout for people who are totally committed to him”

…that not relying on God results in “one round of war after another”

…other

(2) Why does that idea stick with you?

(3) The theme of this passage could be summed up in the acronym FROG, standing for Fully Rely On God.  Consider your life – for what large or small issues might you FROG that you have not thought of before?  (Don’t use this passage to beat yourself up; that’s not profitable.  Use it instead as a springboard to ask God for guidance.)

The thing that sticks with me in this passage, because I’ve been so guilty of it over the years, it “You were foolish to go for human help when you could have had God’s help.”  There are times when God puts you in the position that you have to go to others for help.  But there are also times when God just wants you to turn to Him.

For instance, there have been times in my marriage when my husband and I have had a plan.  We’ve worked the plan.  Things have gone well.  Then, all of a sudden, someone will come along with an idea that stirs up some of my old insecurities, and I immediately go off-script in an effort to make what we are doing seem less weird to the person I’m talking to.  Once I go off that direction, it can be hard to get me back.  Eventually, I reached a point in my walk with the Lord, that He started letting suggestions and advice from others take their toll on my marriage.  That, in turn, fed into my old insecurities, seeming to justify the fact that I felt that way already.  Things would start going poorly, the insecurity would grow, the plan would go awry, and then, I would have to go to my husband and apologize for not trusting the plan, and then I would have to ask forgiveness from God for not trusting Him.  All of this from trying to please someone other than God.

PRAY:  Thank God that you can fully rely on him.  Admire God for his divine alertness and for how relying on him keeps you out of “trouble – one round of war after another.”  Take your time so that you fully explore your gratitude and admiration.

Abba Father, it is a little embarrassing to admit that what I know of the peace that comes from relying on you far too often has come from having to live through the lack of peace I’ve had from not trusting you.  But, I am thankful that I have that experience to draw off of.  Now, especially.  In a time when I have no idea what in the world to do, and it seems like I’m trying to plan for the future and live day-by-day, both at the same time, and not knowing how in the world that is supposed to look, all I can do is take the next step I feel is being directed by you.  Most days, it makes no sense, though I desperately want it to.  And sometimes, even more than wanting it myself, I wish that I could explain it to others.  If I could make some sense out of things, I could relax a little bit.  But, yes, I hear you tell me:  where would be the need for faith!?

Dear Heavenly Father, for everyone reading who is going through something tonight they really wish they understood, or wish was over, I pray for peace.  I pray for the faith to keep walking.  I pray that they would not pluck up in doubt what they planted in faith.  Give them the strength and grace to keep walking toward you, and toward your plan for their lives, even when they are surrounded by nay-sayers.  Put people in their way who will encourage them to keep searching for your will for their lives, and who will encourage them to pursue that will regardless of whether or not they themselves understand it.

Dear Lord, you exist outside of time and space.  All that is happening to us, has already happened in your timeline.  You know all, you see all, and you have orchestrated all this for our own benefit and your own glory.  Help us to trust that nothing is taking you by surprise.  Help us to remember that, in your timeline, all that is happening to us now has already happened.  Therefore, you already know the beginning from the end, and have our steps ordered in such a way that we will come to the end you want us to come to IF we trust you enough to seek your help and walk in the way you lay out for us!

So, Lord, we believe, but help our unbelief.  Help us to seek you for each step of the way, every day.  And help us to remember, each day, to F.R.O.G. – FULLY RELY ON GOD!

LIVE:  Take some deep breaths and ponder what it would feel like in your gut to rely on God all the time, every day.  Taste the sweetness of reliance so it’s not a chore but the absolute best way to live.

Day Fifty-Two: Dedication Ceremonies

Posted on by
Reply

READ:  2 Chronicles 6:12-18

(12-16) Before the entire congregation of Israel, Solomon took his position at the Altar of God and stretched out his hands. Solomon had made a bronze dais seven and a half feet square and four and a half feet high and placed it inside the court; that’s where he now stood.  Then he knelt in full view of the whole congregation, stretched his hands to heaven, and prayed:

God, O God of Israel, there is no God like you in the skies above or on the earth below, who unswervingly keeps covenant with his servants and unfailingly loves them while they sincerely live in obedience to your way.  You kept your word to David my father, your promise.  You did exactly what you promised–every detail.  The proof is before us today!

Keep it up, God, O God of Israel!  Continue to keep the promises you made to David my father when you said, “You’ll always have a descendant to represent my rule on Israel’s throne, on the one condition that your sons are as careful to live obediently in my presence as you have.”

(17) O God, God of Israel, let this all happen —

Confirm and establish it!

(18) Can it be that God will actually move in our neighborhood?  Why, the cosmos itself isn’t large enough to give you breathing room, let alone this Temple I’ve built.’

THINK:  King Solomon, son of King David, built the famous temple to the Lord on Mount Zion in Jerusalem as a gathering place for the Jews to worship Yahweh.  It took him years to build this temple, and at its completion he assembled all the people for a public dedication.  To dedicate something is to set it aside for a special purpose.  As you read the dedication prayer of Solomon, notice the gratitude and the humility of the king as he prays.

What precious aspects of your life (for example, people, positions, locations, important events, yourself) do you need to set solely aside for the Lord as a public reminder that all you have belongs to God?  What would it take for you to do that…and with the attitude of Solomon?

One thing that has been difficult for me over the course of this past year is remembering the words of a picture I saw once that says:  “Don’t pluck up in doubt what you planted in faith.”  This has applied to my life in so many ways this past year, but in the pursuit of my education, I have really had to cling tight to those words.  When all this mess started, my plan was to continue with my education until it was done, and then, use it.  I had no idea what else to do.  I still don’t, most of the time.  What I do know is that every time I’ve set out to get a job, something has happened to get in the way.  I’m not talking about part-time work, that’ll allow me to make a little extra cash.  I’m talking about full-time employment so that I can fully support the family.  Surely, that’s what an able-bodied person ought to do.  Yet, every time I’ve put in an application, I’ve been passed over.  I’ve been close on two or three jobs, and something has happened – at the last minute – that stopped me from getting the job.    I still have applications out.  I’m still looking.  But…my practicum starts in the spring, and my internship in the summer.  And both of those are going to need to be paid, or else God is going to have to open other doors that I’m not able to see right now.

PRAY:  Write out a prayer of dedication to God for an individual, situation, event, or position.

Dear Heavenly Father, only You know the plans you have for me right now.  I wish I did, but something tells me that I’d most likely jump the gun and run ahead of your will because I just so desperately want something resembling normal in my life right now.  The thing is:  I’ve never wanted normal.  Not for my Christian walk.  So, please, help me to trust you with these plans.  Keep my eyes open for the opportunities you are making available to me, and help me to know when you are shutting doors that I am tempted to try to push through.  Though there are so many things I should dedicate to you and leave them in your ever-capable hands, right now, I am entrusting my education and my future plans to you.  Help me to leave them there, rather than always trying to snatch them back out of your hands.

In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.

LIVE:  Keep your dedication prayer so you can occasionally refer to it.  In fact, if you wish, make a note on your calendar a few weeks from today to reread your prayer.  At that time, think about what’s different in your life due to your dedication.

Day Fifty: Shout From the Mountaintops

Posted on by
Reply

READ:  1 Chronicles 16:23-29

(or the extended passage of 1 Chronicles 16:7-36, also known as “David’s Psalm of Thanksgiving)

          Read the passage slowly, keeping in mind that “Shout Bravo!” here means something like “give credit to.”

 

(23-27) Sing to God, everyone and everything!

     Get out his salvation news every day!

Publish his glory among the godless nations,

     his wonders to all races and religions.

And why?  Because God is great–well worth praising!

     No god or goddess comes close in honor.

All the popular gods are stuff and nonsense,

     but God made the cosmos!

Splendor and majesty flow out of him,

     strength and joy fill his place.

 

(26-29) Should Bravo! To God, families of the peoples,

     in awe of the Glory, in awe of the Strength:  Bravo!

Shout Bravo! To his famous Name,

     lift high an offering and enter his presence!

Stand resplendent in his robes of holiness!

 

          Read the passage aloud again, but do it this time as if you are speaking convincingly, first to “everyone and everything” (verse 23 addresses the entire planet, including the vegetation and animals of the earth), then to all the “families of the peoples” (verse 28, all nations, all tribes, all classes of people).

 

THINK:  Read the passage again silently and ponder the following:

  1. Consider the words you most relish. What phrase did you particularly enjoy saying as you read the passage dramatically?

The part of this psalm that I most enjoy saying is:  “…God made the cosmos.  Splendor and majesty flow out of him, strength and joy fill his place.”

  1. What would you most want the earth to know or understand about God?

What I most want the earth to know or understand about God is that the salvation that Christ will bring when He comes again will be for the entire earth, not just for mankind, but for the rest of creation as well.

  1. What would you most want the families of the earth to know or understand about God?

What I most want the people of the earth to know is that there is no god or goddess that could come close in honor, to include ourselves. 

 

PRAY:  Being by asking God to lead you in your prayer.  Wait for him.  Once you get started, you may wish to say something like, “O God, I’m so glad you are…” and finish with ideas from this psalm.

 

O God, I’m so glad you are merciful to us when we fall.  I am glad that you hear our prayers even when we do not deserve your kindness.  Your kindness do not just extend to us, they extend to the whole earth.  Everywhere we turn, there is something remarkable and beautiful and terrific to look at and appreciate.  May we give your creation the respect it deserves, but never more than the Creator.

 

LIVE:  If you could shout this psalm from anywhere in the world, where would that be?  (It might be on a specific mountaintop or by a certain waterfall or even before an international group, such as the United Nations.)  Picture yourself saying these verses from your heart in that setting, without embarrassment or any other reservation.  Rest in your boldness.

 

The weather has been so nice today, that we opened the windows and doors to let the fresh air in.  It’s dark now, and I still have my windows open, and I can hear crickets and tree frogs outside.  It’s such a soothing sound that my son has even made a “playlist” of crickets and rain on a nature sounds app I have on my iPad.  The thing is:  the window has been open for so long and I’ve gotten busy doing other things so that I had practically forgotten about having my windows open or being able to hear the crickets.  Perhaps that’s why God says to “Be still and know that He is God.”  He’s there.  He’s talking.  But with our busy-ness of life, we get so used to the noise around us that we forget to pay attention to His voice.  How about we all slow down a notch or two, throttle down, and see if we can’t hear God whispering to us in the stillness and quiet.