A Wonderful Right Gift
Read Psalms 1-7
Ps 7:11 God is a righteous judge, a God who expresses his wrath every day.
KIND OF a scary verse, isn’t it? Aren’t the psalms all about peace, comfort and strength in God?
Actually, they’re about those things and much more. The Psalms show in poetic strength the vast truth of God who created perfection and now seeks to restore his broken world into the perfection. In this purpose he does comfort, strengthen and bring peace to our lives. He also demands we are perfect before him.
How do we get perfect? Only in God’s mercy is it possible to escape the wrath described here.
Many people who say they believe in God think that “being as good as I can be” is good enough to go to Heaven some day. Don’t believe it. The only one who is “right” is God, “a righteous judge…who expresses his wrath every day.” We can only escape the wrath, when we are right before him.
Do you see the connection between “right” and “wrath”? The smallest virus can cause deadly diseases. A small black mark on a brand-new white shirt can make the shirt useless. The slightest sin makes God’s righteousness wrong. Perfect right cannot accept any amount of wrong.
But the psalmist knew something very wonderful. God’s wrath leads to hope! Yes, when we understand God cannot tolerate our errors, we turn to the pure solution, the blood of Jesus. In God’s mercy, we become right with God when we understand our own good is not good enough. (1 Thess 5:9-10 For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.)
Pause and Consider: this wonderful gift God has for you!
Saturday, April 23, 2011
April 29, 2011 Humbling, Isn't It?
Humbling, Isn’t It?
Read Job 42
Job 42:5-6 My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. 6 Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.
WHEN WE live within the normal boundaries of our lives, it is easy to say to God, “This is what I want. You’re a loving God. I’m sure you are happy to give me my desires.
For many pages Job has been saying something like that to God. Job seems to be justified in his despair. After all, he was blameless before God. He was blameless, that is, until he began to question God and try to claim he was right and God was wrong.
Job wasn’t willing to submit himself to the one who “gives orders to the morning, or shows the dawn its place” (Job 38:12). He was judging the One who judges.
So often in the Christian culture, we are disappointed when God does not answer our prayers in just the way we want them answered. But the model prayer, the Lord’s Prayer, says something very different. It says, “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, and give us today our daily bread”
The prayer is focused on God’s Kingdom purpose to unfold into our lives and to pray for what we need.
Yes, we judge God when he delivers something other than what we ordered. What Job, God’s prophets, and Jesus’ disciples came to understand, was that following God was total humility to go before him.
Be humble before God. Live in praise that the one who has “given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place” (Job 38:12) cares for you so deeply “he humbled himself and became obedient to death” (Phil 2:8).
Pause and Consider: how humbling it is to know God loves you.
Read Job 42
Job 42:5-6 My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. 6 Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.
WHEN WE live within the normal boundaries of our lives, it is easy to say to God, “This is what I want. You’re a loving God. I’m sure you are happy to give me my desires.
For many pages Job has been saying something like that to God. Job seems to be justified in his despair. After all, he was blameless before God. He was blameless, that is, until he began to question God and try to claim he was right and God was wrong.
Job wasn’t willing to submit himself to the one who “gives orders to the morning, or shows the dawn its place” (Job 38:12). He was judging the One who judges.
So often in the Christian culture, we are disappointed when God does not answer our prayers in just the way we want them answered. But the model prayer, the Lord’s Prayer, says something very different. It says, “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, and give us today our daily bread”
The prayer is focused on God’s Kingdom purpose to unfold into our lives and to pray for what we need.
Yes, we judge God when he delivers something other than what we ordered. What Job, God’s prophets, and Jesus’ disciples came to understand, was that following God was total humility to go before him.
Be humble before God. Live in praise that the one who has “given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place” (Job 38:12) cares for you so deeply “he humbled himself and became obedient to death” (Phil 2:8).
Pause and Consider: how humbling it is to know God loves you.
April 28, 2011 Worship with Silence
Worship with Silence
Read Job 40-41
Job 40:4-5 “Behold, I am vile; What shall I answer You? I lay my hand over my mouth. 5 Once I have spoken, but I will not answer; Yes, twice, but I will proceed no further.”
I DIDN’T know what to say. I had sat down with my wife to tell her how her actions were unfair to me. I wanted to tell her she had treated me unfairly. I was prepared to state my case and to hear her apology.
But she began the conversation. She told me how she had heard condemnation of her in my words. She explained her feelings of unworthiness in my presence because of the way I had acted. And in response I was silent.
Oh, I could have lashed back and claimed she was wrong. I could have argued and tried to justify what I had done. But the truth was, she was right. My actions had hurt her. When I realized my sin to her, I was silent, and said, “I’m sorry.” My submission to her and my admission of sin honored her and began to restore our relationship.
Job had been arguing with God. Now when he heard God speak, he knew he had sinned. He worshiped God with his submission and admission. He worshiped God in his silence. Here, then, began the restoring of Job’s heart, mind and soul into a close, loving, honoring relationship with God once again.
Being silent allows our heart to hear God’s voice.
Ps 46:10 “Be still , and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
Pause and Consider: how loud God’s voice is when we are silent.
Read Job 40-41
Job 40:4-5 “Behold, I am vile; What shall I answer You? I lay my hand over my mouth. 5 Once I have spoken, but I will not answer; Yes, twice, but I will proceed no further.”
I DIDN’T know what to say. I had sat down with my wife to tell her how her actions were unfair to me. I wanted to tell her she had treated me unfairly. I was prepared to state my case and to hear her apology.
But she began the conversation. She told me how she had heard condemnation of her in my words. She explained her feelings of unworthiness in my presence because of the way I had acted. And in response I was silent.
Oh, I could have lashed back and claimed she was wrong. I could have argued and tried to justify what I had done. But the truth was, she was right. My actions had hurt her. When I realized my sin to her, I was silent, and said, “I’m sorry.” My submission to her and my admission of sin honored her and began to restore our relationship.
Job had been arguing with God. Now when he heard God speak, he knew he had sinned. He worshiped God with his submission and admission. He worshiped God in his silence. Here, then, began the restoring of Job’s heart, mind and soul into a close, loving, honoring relationship with God once again.
Being silent allows our heart to hear God’s voice.
Ps 46:10 “Be still , and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
Pause and Consider: how loud God’s voice is when we are silent.
April 27 Submission Admission
Submission Admission
Read Job 38-39
Job 38:3-4 Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me. 4 “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?”
YOU GET a traffic ticket, and you are sure you have been wronged. You request your day in court, and you spend hours rehearsing your speech to be sure you clearly state your innocence.
Then the day comes. You stand before the judge. There is an aura of authority in the courtroom. You know immediately that if you have any chance at being heard and found innocent, you must submit to the court’s authority.
Job had been waiting for this moment. He was sure he was right and God was wrong. Then God speaks, and immediately the authority and power is all God’s. Job, the mortal man, understands he is in the midst of the eternal power of God. If he is to be found innocent and receive God’s blessing once again, he knows he must submit to God’s supreme authority.
That’s really hard when life is hard, isn’t it? We love to say, “Thank you, God.” But we hate to say, “Your will be done, God.” when it comes to dealing with difficulty. We are grateful our God is sovereign when he guides good things to us. We struggle mightily against his sovereignty when he directs difficulties to us.
Job wasn’t innocent, and neither are you and I. The guilt goes when we know turn to God and submit to his judgment and salvation. Ultimately Job’s blessed life will be restored because he will come to understand that God is sovereign in all things.
When you confess and know God’s forgiveness, your life will be blessed with peace and trust in your God.
Pause and Consider: how good it is to confess, “I’m sorry.”
Read Job 38-39
Job 38:3-4 Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me. 4 “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?”
YOU GET a traffic ticket, and you are sure you have been wronged. You request your day in court, and you spend hours rehearsing your speech to be sure you clearly state your innocence.
Then the day comes. You stand before the judge. There is an aura of authority in the courtroom. You know immediately that if you have any chance at being heard and found innocent, you must submit to the court’s authority.
Job had been waiting for this moment. He was sure he was right and God was wrong. Then God speaks, and immediately the authority and power is all God’s. Job, the mortal man, understands he is in the midst of the eternal power of God. If he is to be found innocent and receive God’s blessing once again, he knows he must submit to God’s supreme authority.
That’s really hard when life is hard, isn’t it? We love to say, “Thank you, God.” But we hate to say, “Your will be done, God.” when it comes to dealing with difficulty. We are grateful our God is sovereign when he guides good things to us. We struggle mightily against his sovereignty when he directs difficulties to us.
Job wasn’t innocent, and neither are you and I. The guilt goes when we know turn to God and submit to his judgment and salvation. Ultimately Job’s blessed life will be restored because he will come to understand that God is sovereign in all things.
When you confess and know God’s forgiveness, your life will be blessed with peace and trust in your God.
Pause and Consider: how good it is to confess, “I’m sorry.”
April 25, 2011 With Him
With Him
Read Job 34-37
Job 36:4 For truly my words are not false; One who is perfect in knowledge is with you.
ELIHU continues his conversation, and he does so with an assuring truth. God’s perfect knowledge is in their presence and available to them. God is with them.
Is it not a wonderful feeling to know the close companionship of someone you love is always with you? My wife and I spent years in different jobs, traveling across the United States. Sometimes one would come home and the other would leave. Physical companionship was minimal for certain weeks, but our “love companionship” kept us together.
Our love relationship was strong. We remained close in our hearts because we committed to each other when we were together. We expressed our love, and it was good to be with each other, to grow strong in each other.
God wants to be with you wherever you are. His desire is for you to take time to commit to him because he has committed to you. When you do so, he will be with you.
Then, when the questions come, you can trust him and turn to him because he is right there beside you.
Pause and Consider: how perfect knowledge from God leads to the perfect answer.
Read Job 34-37
Job 36:4 For truly my words are not false; One who is perfect in knowledge is with you.
ELIHU continues his conversation, and he does so with an assuring truth. God’s perfect knowledge is in their presence and available to them. God is with them.
Is it not a wonderful feeling to know the close companionship of someone you love is always with you? My wife and I spent years in different jobs, traveling across the United States. Sometimes one would come home and the other would leave. Physical companionship was minimal for certain weeks, but our “love companionship” kept us together.
Our love relationship was strong. We remained close in our hearts because we committed to each other when we were together. We expressed our love, and it was good to be with each other, to grow strong in each other.
God wants to be with you wherever you are. His desire is for you to take time to commit to him because he has committed to you. When you do so, he will be with you.
Then, when the questions come, you can trust him and turn to him because he is right there beside you.
Pause and Consider: how perfect knowledge from God leads to the perfect answer.
April 26, 2011 What is God Doing?
What Is God Doing?
Read Job 32-33
Job 32:8 But it is the spirit of Almighty God that comes to men and gives them wisdom.
THE QUESTION often comes to me from someone in need: “What is God doing?” Often the question is an expression of hopelessness, confusion and doubt. Even more challenging, the question is often an expression of, “I feel God doesn’t care.” What do we do, then, when someone comes to us and asks that question? What do we do when we want that answer?
Job was incredibly frustrated with his broken life, just as many are today. His friends had definitive solutions for his despair. But the truth is, they were focused on Job. Perhaps to answer this question, “What is God doing?” we need to focus on God.
That’s what Elihu, the youngest person in this “counseling session” does, “But it is the spirit of Almighty God that comes to men and gives them wisdom.”
The answer to “What is God doing?” is to respond with, “Let’s get to know God more in his Word, the Bible.”
I know that this sounds simplistic to so many and challenging to all. “The Bible is hard to understand.” Or “It’s not relevant.”
Well, it’s not really hard to understand. And it is relevant. Sit down and read your Bible. Spend some time with God’s Word and listen to him. Sit down and pray for the Holy Spirit to open your mind to God’s truth. Read God’s Word with someone else and talk about it. Rest in him, and receive his truth.
As expressed earlier in these pages, there will always be things of God we cannot know. But seek God’s wisdom, and you will know better how to answer, “What is God doing?” And joyously, the answer always is, “He’s bringing you closer to him.”
Pause and Consider: the Bible is written by the Living God.
Read Job 32-33
Job 32:8 But it is the spirit of Almighty God that comes to men and gives them wisdom.
THE QUESTION often comes to me from someone in need: “What is God doing?” Often the question is an expression of hopelessness, confusion and doubt. Even more challenging, the question is often an expression of, “I feel God doesn’t care.” What do we do, then, when someone comes to us and asks that question? What do we do when we want that answer?
Job was incredibly frustrated with his broken life, just as many are today. His friends had definitive solutions for his despair. But the truth is, they were focused on Job. Perhaps to answer this question, “What is God doing?” we need to focus on God.
That’s what Elihu, the youngest person in this “counseling session” does, “But it is the spirit of Almighty God that comes to men and gives them wisdom.”
The answer to “What is God doing?” is to respond with, “Let’s get to know God more in his Word, the Bible.”
I know that this sounds simplistic to so many and challenging to all. “The Bible is hard to understand.” Or “It’s not relevant.”
Well, it’s not really hard to understand. And it is relevant. Sit down and read your Bible. Spend some time with God’s Word and listen to him. Sit down and pray for the Holy Spirit to open your mind to God’s truth. Read God’s Word with someone else and talk about it. Rest in him, and receive his truth.
As expressed earlier in these pages, there will always be things of God we cannot know. But seek God’s wisdom, and you will know better how to answer, “What is God doing?” And joyously, the answer always is, “He’s bringing you closer to him.”
Pause and Consider: the Bible is written by the Living God.
April 24, 2011 A Blessed Easter
Read John 20:11-18
John 20:16 Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned toward him and said in Hebrew, “Rabboni!”
A FEW days before this was the inexpressible anguish and pain our Lord was suffering on the cross. That’s all gone now! There is no pain, no sorrow, no heartache, and no emptiness! Our risen Lord has come, and he has made himself known—completely.
Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion! When the LORD restores the fortunes of his people, let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad! (Psalm 14:7)
The Lord has spoken. The Lord has acted. The Lord is risen, and there is nothing that the gates of Hell can do. Satan is conquered. Death is “softened” and life reigns.
I’ll bet Mary is glad she stayed. Other women were with her (from Matthew’s and Luke’s accounts), and I’ll bet they were glad, too. Oh, how exceedingly glad they were! They went and told. The women became the first missionaries, the first emissaries to represent the risen Christ. The disciples and others probably laughed at her. Told her go home. After all, that’s what they did. If Jesus was alive, he certainly would come to them first.
Ah, Mary, your grief was enormous. Your joy even more so! No matter what anyone said to you, you knew better. You had seen the risen Lord! You knew in your heart the joy of worshiping the resurrected Jesus Christ!
Pause and Consider: the wonder of living a resurrected life.
John 20:16 Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned toward him and said in Hebrew, “Rabboni!”
A FEW days before this was the inexpressible anguish and pain our Lord was suffering on the cross. That’s all gone now! There is no pain, no sorrow, no heartache, and no emptiness! Our risen Lord has come, and he has made himself known—completely.
Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion! When the LORD restores the fortunes of his people, let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad! (Psalm 14:7)
The Lord has spoken. The Lord has acted. The Lord is risen, and there is nothing that the gates of Hell can do. Satan is conquered. Death is “softened” and life reigns.
I’ll bet Mary is glad she stayed. Other women were with her (from Matthew’s and Luke’s accounts), and I’ll bet they were glad, too. Oh, how exceedingly glad they were! They went and told. The women became the first missionaries, the first emissaries to represent the risen Christ. The disciples and others probably laughed at her. Told her go home. After all, that’s what they did. If Jesus was alive, he certainly would come to them first.
Ah, Mary, your grief was enormous. Your joy even more so! No matter what anyone said to you, you knew better. You had seen the risen Lord! You knew in your heart the joy of worshiping the resurrected Jesus Christ!
Pause and Consider: the wonder of living a resurrected life.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
April 22, 2011 Passionate for God
Passionate for God
Read Job 27-29
Job 29:1-6 Job continued his discourse: 2 “How I long for the months gone by, for the days when God watched over me, 3 when his lamp shone upon my head and by his light I walked through darkness! 4 Oh, for the days when I was in my prime, when God’s intimate friendship blessed my house, 5 when the Almighty was still with me and my children were around me, 6 when my path was drenched with cream quare, and the rock poured out for me streams of olive oil.”
WHAT DO YOU want your life to be? We have here an incredible picture of Job’s life of love for God and his longing to feel God’s love once again. It is a glorious picture of the kind of relationship we should seek with our Creator.
Each day I am in wonder that God would consider me to be His. How do you feel about being God’s own? Is it “Okay.” “Sometimes up, sometimes down.” “Great.” “Awesome.” Unbelievable!”?
I hope it’s of the latter traits. That’s what Job experienced—and he wants it back. Before Job’s trials, life with God was very, very good for Job. He desires to again know God is watching over him because God’s wisdom lead Job to do right. He wants to walk out of his darkness into God’s light because it is so brilliant and true. Job wants desperately to experience God’s intimate friendship again because, as a great, close friend, God blessed his house.
All of this wonderful praise and longing for his God is Job’s way of saying, “I love God with all my heart, my soul and my mind. I want him to love me back.”
Job misses God. Do you today miss God? For your sake, I pray that you passionately seek him. And your passionate God will fill you with His love.
Pause and Consider: your most loving relationship pales in comparison with a loving relationship with your passionate God.
Read Job 27-29
Job 29:1-6 Job continued his discourse: 2 “How I long for the months gone by, for the days when God watched over me, 3 when his lamp shone upon my head and by his light I walked through darkness! 4 Oh, for the days when I was in my prime, when God’s intimate friendship blessed my house, 5 when the Almighty was still with me and my children were around me, 6 when my path was drenched with cream quare, and the rock poured out for me streams of olive oil.”
WHAT DO YOU want your life to be? We have here an incredible picture of Job’s life of love for God and his longing to feel God’s love once again. It is a glorious picture of the kind of relationship we should seek with our Creator.
Each day I am in wonder that God would consider me to be His. How do you feel about being God’s own? Is it “Okay.” “Sometimes up, sometimes down.” “Great.” “Awesome.” Unbelievable!”?
I hope it’s of the latter traits. That’s what Job experienced—and he wants it back. Before Job’s trials, life with God was very, very good for Job. He desires to again know God is watching over him because God’s wisdom lead Job to do right. He wants to walk out of his darkness into God’s light because it is so brilliant and true. Job wants desperately to experience God’s intimate friendship again because, as a great, close friend, God blessed his house.
All of this wonderful praise and longing for his God is Job’s way of saying, “I love God with all my heart, my soul and my mind. I want him to love me back.”
Job misses God. Do you today miss God? For your sake, I pray that you passionately seek him. And your passionate God will fill you with His love.
Pause and Consider: your most loving relationship pales in comparison with a loving relationship with your passionate God.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
April 21, 2011 See Your Savior and Rejoice
See Your Savior and Rejoice!
Read Job 19-21
Job 19:20-26 I am nothing but skin and bones; I have escaped with only the skin of my teeth. 21 Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me. 22 Why do you pursue me as God does? Will you never get enough of my flesh? 23 Oh, that my words were recorded, that they were written on a scroll, 24 that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead, or engraved in rock forever! 25 But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth at last. 26 And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God!
I AM AWED at Job’s pain, Job’s agony, Job’s loneliness, Job’s desperation, Job’s isolation, and Job’s sickness.
I am awed at Job’s hope.
“I know my Redeemer lives.” How incredible is that? This is centuries before Jesus! This is the New Testament in the Old Testament. This is the foundation of our lives. Jesus lives. Jesus saves!
Oh, to know this truth in the deepest darkness of our lives changes everything. To know this, we turn from gazing in fear at the empty tomb to see the joyous reality of our risen Lord waiting open-armed to embrace us.
When you see your Savior, the fear goes. Joy blasts its way in, and we have no room for sorrow or pain or fear. We have only room for joy and hope.
Lift up your head today, my friends. Smile and rejoice. Your Redeemer lives!
Pause and Consider: your Redeemer is yours.
Read Job 19-21
Job 19:20-26 I am nothing but skin and bones; I have escaped with only the skin of my teeth. 21 Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me. 22 Why do you pursue me as God does? Will you never get enough of my flesh? 23 Oh, that my words were recorded, that they were written on a scroll, 24 that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead, or engraved in rock forever! 25 But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth at last. 26 And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God!
I AM AWED at Job’s pain, Job’s agony, Job’s loneliness, Job’s desperation, Job’s isolation, and Job’s sickness.
I am awed at Job’s hope.
“I know my Redeemer lives.” How incredible is that? This is centuries before Jesus! This is the New Testament in the Old Testament. This is the foundation of our lives. Jesus lives. Jesus saves!
Oh, to know this truth in the deepest darkness of our lives changes everything. To know this, we turn from gazing in fear at the empty tomb to see the joyous reality of our risen Lord waiting open-armed to embrace us.
When you see your Savior, the fear goes. Joy blasts its way in, and we have no room for sorrow or pain or fear. We have only room for joy and hope.
Lift up your head today, my friends. Smile and rejoice. Your Redeemer lives!
Pause and Consider: your Redeemer is yours.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
April 20, 2011 Seeking God's Comfort
The Father’s Comfort
Read Job 15-18
Job 15:11 Is God’s comfort too little for you? Is his gentle word not enough?
WHAT was the first thing God did when Adam and Eve sinned? When He went to them in their nakedness—pure before sin, now shameful after sin— “the Lord God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife.” (Gen 3:21)
God began to comfort His broken creation. He has been doing so ever since.
Job’s friend, Eliphaz, was asking Job, “Is God’s comfort too little for you? Is his gentle word not enough?” He was hoping Job would seek God’s comfort in his deep torment.
Job, though, was too angry with God. He saw God as his crusher, not comforter. Job was too deep in self pity and regret. Job was too focused on death.
God had allowed great grief into Job’s life. How could God comfort him?
That’s the question we all ask. Where is God’s comfort in the disappointment and darkness of our days?
The place we look to find the Father’s comfort is to the Son’s cross. We look there, and we see agonizing suffering. We look there, and we see deep darkness. We look there, and we see sin’s penalty. We look to the cross, and we see the Son’s victory. We look to the cross, and we see the Father’s comfort on us.
Job didn’t have the cross to look upon. But he had a Father God, who would comfort him in his great distress when he would say to the Father, “I need you.”
Pause and Consider: how much you truly need God’s comfort each day—and thank him that it is free to you.
Read Job 15-18
Job 15:11 Is God’s comfort too little for you? Is his gentle word not enough?
WHAT was the first thing God did when Adam and Eve sinned? When He went to them in their nakedness—pure before sin, now shameful after sin— “the Lord God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife.” (Gen 3:21)
God began to comfort His broken creation. He has been doing so ever since.
Job’s friend, Eliphaz, was asking Job, “Is God’s comfort too little for you? Is his gentle word not enough?” He was hoping Job would seek God’s comfort in his deep torment.
Job, though, was too angry with God. He saw God as his crusher, not comforter. Job was too deep in self pity and regret. Job was too focused on death.
God had allowed great grief into Job’s life. How could God comfort him?
That’s the question we all ask. Where is God’s comfort in the disappointment and darkness of our days?
The place we look to find the Father’s comfort is to the Son’s cross. We look there, and we see agonizing suffering. We look there, and we see deep darkness. We look there, and we see sin’s penalty. We look to the cross, and we see the Son’s victory. We look to the cross, and we see the Father’s comfort on us.
Job didn’t have the cross to look upon. But he had a Father God, who would comfort him in his great distress when he would say to the Father, “I need you.”
Pause and Consider: how much you truly need God’s comfort each day—and thank him that it is free to you.
Monday, April 18, 2011
April 19, 2011 Time for a Change
April 19
Ready for Change?
Read Job 13-14
Job 13:22-23 Now summon me, and I will answer! Or let me speak to you, and you reply. 23 Tell me, what have I done wrong? Show me my rebellion and my sin.
“WHAT DID I DO?” Did you ever ask that question when your parents punished you? Or perhaps you said something like this, “I was just having fun. I didn’t mean to ….” Usually in those circumstances we knew what we had done wrong even though we proclaimed ignorance or innocence of wrongdoing—of sin.
Job is really struggling with what is happening. He truly wants to know, “What did I do?” The opening lines of this story describes Job as “blameless—a man of complete integrity.” (Job 1:1) There are no accusations against Job. The only one who has accused Job is Satan – and that accusation is for the purpose of tempting him to turn from worshiping God.
But in his anguish of understanding the great calamities in his life, Job still worships God. That is clear in this scripture today. Job is willing to hear God’s voice. Job is willing to hear what sin he has committed. Job wants to know, so he can be right with God.
That is the point where many of us stop short of worship. We may often be eager to praise God for the ways He’s blessed us and sometimes to even praise Him for the ways He strengthened us through difficult times. But we are seldom ready to say to God, “Show me my sin.”
If we truly see our sin in the truth of the Living God, we will have to change, to adjust our lives to God’s ways. We’re often unwilling to do that, aren’t we?
That is worship—responding to the truth of the Living God. Whatever issues in your life, be open to what God shows you. Ask His forgiveness. Seek His truth. And worship Him.
Pause and Consider: What is your sin?
Ready for Change?
Read Job 13-14
Job 13:22-23 Now summon me, and I will answer! Or let me speak to you, and you reply. 23 Tell me, what have I done wrong? Show me my rebellion and my sin.
“WHAT DID I DO?” Did you ever ask that question when your parents punished you? Or perhaps you said something like this, “I was just having fun. I didn’t mean to ….” Usually in those circumstances we knew what we had done wrong even though we proclaimed ignorance or innocence of wrongdoing—of sin.
Job is really struggling with what is happening. He truly wants to know, “What did I do?” The opening lines of this story describes Job as “blameless—a man of complete integrity.” (Job 1:1) There are no accusations against Job. The only one who has accused Job is Satan – and that accusation is for the purpose of tempting him to turn from worshiping God.
But in his anguish of understanding the great calamities in his life, Job still worships God. That is clear in this scripture today. Job is willing to hear God’s voice. Job is willing to hear what sin he has committed. Job wants to know, so he can be right with God.
That is the point where many of us stop short of worship. We may often be eager to praise God for the ways He’s blessed us and sometimes to even praise Him for the ways He strengthened us through difficult times. But we are seldom ready to say to God, “Show me my sin.”
If we truly see our sin in the truth of the Living God, we will have to change, to adjust our lives to God’s ways. We’re often unwilling to do that, aren’t we?
That is worship—responding to the truth of the Living God. Whatever issues in your life, be open to what God shows you. Ask His forgiveness. Seek His truth. And worship Him.
Pause and Consider: What is your sin?
Sunday, April 17, 2011
April 18, 2011 God Too Big To Know
God—Too Big to Know
Read Job 11-12
Job 11:5-6 How I wish God would answer you! 6 He would tell you there are many sides to wisdom; there are things too deep for human knowledge. God is punishing you less than you deserve.
DO YOU want to know everything? I do. I want to know everything about the things that interest me. I want to be an expert on life, and I’d love to be an expert on God. I want to know exactly what he’s up to and why he’s “up to it”.
Or wait a minute. Do I really?
If I knew all about God, I don’t think I’d honor him and worship him as much as I do. If I knew why God caused that storm, or why that person died on the mission field, or why I’m blind, or why my brother’s blind or why “everything that is, is”, I don’t think I could separate God from the world.
Did you ever think someone was really cool—he or she was kind of mysterious? Then you had the opportunity to meet them and to get to know them as a “real” person? Somehow they’re not quite as “up there” as before you knew them, are they? They become real, and you see them in all their humanity.
If God is who he says he is, and I fully believe he is Creator of the world, Savior of Sin and Spirit of Truth—to name a few—we cannot completely know him. Job’s friend is right, there are things to deep for human knowledge.
Be glad in that. Rejoice your God is above your understanding. Understand that in all his knowledge, he will take care of you.
Pause and Consider: how vast and personal God is.
Read Job 11-12
Job 11:5-6 How I wish God would answer you! 6 He would tell you there are many sides to wisdom; there are things too deep for human knowledge. God is punishing you less than you deserve.
DO YOU want to know everything? I do. I want to know everything about the things that interest me. I want to be an expert on life, and I’d love to be an expert on God. I want to know exactly what he’s up to and why he’s “up to it”.
Or wait a minute. Do I really?
If I knew all about God, I don’t think I’d honor him and worship him as much as I do. If I knew why God caused that storm, or why that person died on the mission field, or why I’m blind, or why my brother’s blind or why “everything that is, is”, I don’t think I could separate God from the world.
Did you ever think someone was really cool—he or she was kind of mysterious? Then you had the opportunity to meet them and to get to know them as a “real” person? Somehow they’re not quite as “up there” as before you knew them, are they? They become real, and you see them in all their humanity.
If God is who he says he is, and I fully believe he is Creator of the world, Savior of Sin and Spirit of Truth—to name a few—we cannot completely know him. Job’s friend is right, there are things to deep for human knowledge.
Be glad in that. Rejoice your God is above your understanding. Understand that in all his knowledge, he will take care of you.
Pause and Consider: how vast and personal God is.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
April 17, 2011 Rebuilding Hope
Rebuilding Hope
Read Job 9-10
Job 9:21 I am innocent, but it makes no difference to me— I despise my life.
WOW. This is tough stuff. Job is at the bottom. He has gone from a satisfied, prosperous life showing a great love and worship for God to a life of bleak depression. He has no hope. He despises himself!
That’s one of the reasons this book is hard to read. We see a man beaten down by life’s circumstances. His family is dead. His property is destroyed. All that has given him value is gone. He looks at what has happened to him and says, “Why me? I’m innocent. I’ve lived a life in fear of God. How could this happen? What’s wrong with you God you would let this happen? What did I do?”
We often ask those questions, wondering why our sovereign God allows hard things in our lives. Where do we find the answers? Where will Job, and where will we find relief?
Let’s look further into today’s reading. Here is good advice about what to do in the darkness:
Job 11:13-18 “If only you would prepare your heart and lift up your hands to him in prayer! 14 Get rid of your sins, and leave all iniquity behind you. raid, 15 Then your face will brighten with innocence. You will be strong and free of fear. 16 You will forget your misery; it will be like water flowing away. 17 Your life will be brighter than the noonday. Even darkness will be as bright as morning. 18 Having hope will give you courage. You will be protected and will rest in safety.
Creator, Redeemer, Restorer, God not only takes away our sins, he removes our darkness. He gives us hope.
Pause and Consider: how life gets better as God gets brighter.
Read Job 9-10
Job 9:21 I am innocent, but it makes no difference to me— I despise my life.
WOW. This is tough stuff. Job is at the bottom. He has gone from a satisfied, prosperous life showing a great love and worship for God to a life of bleak depression. He has no hope. He despises himself!
That’s one of the reasons this book is hard to read. We see a man beaten down by life’s circumstances. His family is dead. His property is destroyed. All that has given him value is gone. He looks at what has happened to him and says, “Why me? I’m innocent. I’ve lived a life in fear of God. How could this happen? What’s wrong with you God you would let this happen? What did I do?”
We often ask those questions, wondering why our sovereign God allows hard things in our lives. Where do we find the answers? Where will Job, and where will we find relief?
Let’s look further into today’s reading. Here is good advice about what to do in the darkness:
Job 11:13-18 “If only you would prepare your heart and lift up your hands to him in prayer! 14 Get rid of your sins, and leave all iniquity behind you. raid, 15 Then your face will brighten with innocence. You will be strong and free of fear. 16 You will forget your misery; it will be like water flowing away. 17 Your life will be brighter than the noonday. Even darkness will be as bright as morning. 18 Having hope will give you courage. You will be protected and will rest in safety.
Creator, Redeemer, Restorer, God not only takes away our sins, he removes our darkness. He gives us hope.
Pause and Consider: how life gets better as God gets brighter.
Friday, April 15, 2011
April 16, 2011 Come and Let God Care for You
Come and Let Me Care for You
Read Job 5-8
Job 5:8-10 “If I were you, I would go to God and present my case to him. 9 He does great things too marvelous to understand. He performs countless miracles. 10 He gives rain for the earth
and water for the fields.”
IT HAS been an interesting week in ministry. God seems to be moving in hearts to seek him. It seems almost as if people have read these words and said to themselves, “I need help. I need a church. I need to talk to a pastor. I need to know more about Jesus.”
I pray that is what is happening. There are so many reasons why people are feeling hopeless frustration, deep anger, imprisoning anxiety, and guilt. They’ve tried a myriad of “solutions” to find ease to their pain.
But there is only one solution.
Eliphaz is wise to direct Job to the sovereign LORD. Job wants to die. He curses his birth date. He moans for release from his affliction. He’s experiencing all the anguish I listed above and much more. ALL is GONE.
Or is it?
No, all is not gone. In fact, ALL is waiting for him when he calls on God to say, “I have nothing. You are everything. Can I come to you?”
Of course, God will be delighted to say, “Of course you can, Job! I love you. You have lost your family and your wealth. But I am ALL you need. Come here and let me care for you.”
Pause and Consider: how amazing it is that God of all offers his ALL to you.
Read Job 5-8
Job 5:8-10 “If I were you, I would go to God and present my case to him. 9 He does great things too marvelous to understand. He performs countless miracles. 10 He gives rain for the earth
and water for the fields.”
IT HAS been an interesting week in ministry. God seems to be moving in hearts to seek him. It seems almost as if people have read these words and said to themselves, “I need help. I need a church. I need to talk to a pastor. I need to know more about Jesus.”
I pray that is what is happening. There are so many reasons why people are feeling hopeless frustration, deep anger, imprisoning anxiety, and guilt. They’ve tried a myriad of “solutions” to find ease to their pain.
But there is only one solution.
Eliphaz is wise to direct Job to the sovereign LORD. Job wants to die. He curses his birth date. He moans for release from his affliction. He’s experiencing all the anguish I listed above and much more. ALL is GONE.
Or is it?
No, all is not gone. In fact, ALL is waiting for him when he calls on God to say, “I have nothing. You are everything. Can I come to you?”
Of course, God will be delighted to say, “Of course you can, Job! I love you. You have lost your family and your wealth. But I am ALL you need. Come here and let me care for you.”
Pause and Consider: how amazing it is that God of all offers his ALL to you.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
April 15, 2011 Seeing God in Job
Seeing God in Job
Read Job 1-4
Job 1:20-22 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; 5 the name of the LORD be praised.” 22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.
&
Job 2:10 He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”
I KNOW. Job’s (Jobe) story is nasty. It’s awful, heart-rending, sad, frustrating, weird and scary—to name a few. Someone said, “Do we have to read Job? I like to read through it as fast as I can.”
Well, yes, if you want to get to know God much better, you do have to read Job. What other reason is there to read the Bible?
The verses above are, I think, the foundation of Job’s story. From the Garden of Eden when Eve and Adam decided they deserved more than God had given them in the perfect Eden, humanity has been asking God for more.
We blame God for the bad things. We accuse God of not loving or caring for us when life is tough. We turn from him to pursue other things because we think God has too little to offer.
Worshiping God is often far from our minds—even if (and especially if) things are going well.
But look. See Job’s heart. See Job’s submission. He knows that EVERYTHING is from God. He knows God has the power and the right and the privilege to do with our lives as he pleases. Hard lessons come to us reluctantly. We want to reject them. Most of us never do get it right. Job eventually did. He has some learning to do. Stay with us and let’s learn with him.
Pause and Consider: that great lessons come with great awareness.
Read Job 1-4
Job 1:20-22 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; 5 the name of the LORD be praised.” 22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.
&
Job 2:10 He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”
I KNOW. Job’s (Jobe) story is nasty. It’s awful, heart-rending, sad, frustrating, weird and scary—to name a few. Someone said, “Do we have to read Job? I like to read through it as fast as I can.”
Well, yes, if you want to get to know God much better, you do have to read Job. What other reason is there to read the Bible?
The verses above are, I think, the foundation of Job’s story. From the Garden of Eden when Eve and Adam decided they deserved more than God had given them in the perfect Eden, humanity has been asking God for more.
We blame God for the bad things. We accuse God of not loving or caring for us when life is tough. We turn from him to pursue other things because we think God has too little to offer.
Worshiping God is often far from our minds—even if (and especially if) things are going well.
But look. See Job’s heart. See Job’s submission. He knows that EVERYTHING is from God. He knows God has the power and the right and the privilege to do with our lives as he pleases. Hard lessons come to us reluctantly. We want to reject them. Most of us never do get it right. Job eventually did. He has some learning to do. Stay with us and let’s learn with him.
Pause and Consider: that great lessons come with great awareness.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
April 14, 2011 God Requires Y our "Yes"
God Requires Your “Yes”
Read Esther 5-10
Esther 4:13-14 “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. 14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?”
LET’S BE CLEAR about something: When God calls, you need to say, “Here am I.” Oops, didn’t’ mean to scare you. I know. It can be scary making that kind of commitment.
We can take this scripture and applaud Esther because she would respond to God’s call for “such a time as this”. But she had to really come to trust God. Notice in the previous verses how she made an excuse to not go to Xerxes. Her unwanted presence could cause the king to kill her.
But even a death threat is no excuse when God calls. When God calls us to speak words of salvation, we need to go. God wants that person saved, and he wants you to be his partner in that salvation. If we say “No, I don’t want to go.” He might say, “Okay, I’ll send someone else. But you will lose the blessing I had planned for you.”
Yes, God doesn’t need you to save someone. He can get someone else. But you will miss out on so much blessing he has prepared for you. God’s penalty over Esther’s family would have been their destruction if she had said, “No, this isn’t for me. Not now, Lord.”
The God who saved you from death commands you to bring life to others. It is a privilege and a joy. Trust God’s “Go” call to you. Even if you’re scared to death.
Pause and Consider: overcoming great fear leads to great faith.
Read Esther 5-10
Esther 4:13-14 “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. 14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?”
LET’S BE CLEAR about something: When God calls, you need to say, “Here am I.” Oops, didn’t’ mean to scare you. I know. It can be scary making that kind of commitment.
We can take this scripture and applaud Esther because she would respond to God’s call for “such a time as this”. But she had to really come to trust God. Notice in the previous verses how she made an excuse to not go to Xerxes. Her unwanted presence could cause the king to kill her.
But even a death threat is no excuse when God calls. When God calls us to speak words of salvation, we need to go. God wants that person saved, and he wants you to be his partner in that salvation. If we say “No, I don’t want to go.” He might say, “Okay, I’ll send someone else. But you will lose the blessing I had planned for you.”
Yes, God doesn’t need you to save someone. He can get someone else. But you will miss out on so much blessing he has prepared for you. God’s penalty over Esther’s family would have been their destruction if she had said, “No, this isn’t for me. Not now, Lord.”
The God who saved you from death commands you to bring life to others. It is a privilege and a joy. Trust God’s “Go” call to you. Even if you’re scared to death.
Pause and Consider: overcoming great fear leads to great faith.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
April 13, 2011 The Big Issue
The Big Issues
Read Esther 1-4
Est 1:1 This is what happened during the time of Xerxes, the Xerxes who ruled over 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush.
I AM thinking about issues we face in our lives. Some are little and some are huge. Some come and go, and some stay around for a long time. How do we deal with them?
To answer that question, we look at a simple little girl whom God used in a most remarkable way. Esther was an orphan. Raised by her uncle Mordecai, a learned man, she seems to have had a strong sense of who she was.
She was a Jew. She was one of God’s chosen people. She was special. And when God moved events to put her into Xerxes’ court, to become his Queen, she had a huge issue to face.
Her people—all the Jews—were to be killed. And to stop this, she had to face the most powerful man in the world. This young lady from a simple background would have to enter to plead for her people without invitation into the presence of a man who could easily destroy her.
So, you think you have big issues? Here’s death staring Esther in the face. It wasn’t easy. She wavered. But she stared back. She knew who to ultimately trust. She trusted her God. She fasted and prayed to prepare for her task. She had others fast and pray for her.
She turned to God. He used her for victory. Esther didn’t win the battle. God did. But Esther is honored, and God blessed her because she trusted him. Esther obeyed him. That’s what Esther did with her big issue.
Pause and Consider: What do you do with your big issues?
Read Esther 1-4
Est 1:1 This is what happened during the time of Xerxes, the Xerxes who ruled over 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush.
I AM thinking about issues we face in our lives. Some are little and some are huge. Some come and go, and some stay around for a long time. How do we deal with them?
To answer that question, we look at a simple little girl whom God used in a most remarkable way. Esther was an orphan. Raised by her uncle Mordecai, a learned man, she seems to have had a strong sense of who she was.
She was a Jew. She was one of God’s chosen people. She was special. And when God moved events to put her into Xerxes’ court, to become his Queen, she had a huge issue to face.
Her people—all the Jews—were to be killed. And to stop this, she had to face the most powerful man in the world. This young lady from a simple background would have to enter to plead for her people without invitation into the presence of a man who could easily destroy her.
So, you think you have big issues? Here’s death staring Esther in the face. It wasn’t easy. She wavered. But she stared back. She knew who to ultimately trust. She trusted her God. She fasted and prayed to prepare for her task. She had others fast and pray for her.
She turned to God. He used her for victory. Esther didn’t win the battle. God did. But Esther is honored, and God blessed her because she trusted him. Esther obeyed him. That’s what Esther did with her big issue.
Pause and Consider: What do you do with your big issues?
April 12, 2011 God's Power Tools
God’s Tools
Read Nehemiah 11-13
Neh 12:43 And on that day they offered great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great joy. The women and children also rejoiced. The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away.
WORSHIP is Jerusalem’s response to their God who had rebuilt their city. The city is new and restored, prepared to protect its people. Jerusalem is again a place where God’s people can live in safety from their enemies and they can worship him.
The ruins are made new. The focus of the worship is not the city but it is God, the Restorer.
When Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, Satan destroyed the perfection God had created. The affects of sin were disease, death, and spiritual separation from God. Our place of security and of worship with our God was in ruins.
God, though, had his blueprint for reconstruction. As he sent Nehemiah to rebuild Jerusalem, he sent Jesus to rebuild broken humanity.
Jesus has pointed the way to the Father and has told us how to rebuild our lives from sin’s destruction. Then he sent the Holy Spirit to give us the power and the strength to take up our tools of faith, hope, love, obedience and worship to rebuild our relationship with the Father.
Is your life feeling “ruined” by trouble and turmoil? God, your Rebuilder, offers you through his Word the tools to build anew.
Pause and Consider: the power tools God has given you—a friend, a loved one, his church, his Spirit…
Read Nehemiah 11-13
Neh 12:43 And on that day they offered great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great joy. The women and children also rejoiced. The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away.
WORSHIP is Jerusalem’s response to their God who had rebuilt their city. The city is new and restored, prepared to protect its people. Jerusalem is again a place where God’s people can live in safety from their enemies and they can worship him.
The ruins are made new. The focus of the worship is not the city but it is God, the Restorer.
When Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, Satan destroyed the perfection God had created. The affects of sin were disease, death, and spiritual separation from God. Our place of security and of worship with our God was in ruins.
God, though, had his blueprint for reconstruction. As he sent Nehemiah to rebuild Jerusalem, he sent Jesus to rebuild broken humanity.
Jesus has pointed the way to the Father and has told us how to rebuild our lives from sin’s destruction. Then he sent the Holy Spirit to give us the power and the strength to take up our tools of faith, hope, love, obedience and worship to rebuild our relationship with the Father.
Is your life feeling “ruined” by trouble and turmoil? God, your Rebuilder, offers you through his Word the tools to build anew.
Pause and Consider: the power tools God has given you—a friend, a loved one, his church, his Spirit…
Saturday, April 9, 2011
April 10, 2011 God's Love, Law & Blessing
God’s Law, Love and Blessing
Read Nehemiah 7-8
Neh 8:3 He read (the Law) aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.
CAN YOU imagine going to your local town square, courthouse steps or some public place to listen to the Bible read aloud to you from morning to noon? How about going to a weeklong “Bible fest” where for 7 days, each day is filled with someone reading the Bible to you? All you do is to listen and absorb the Word of God.
That’s what is happening here. Someone is reading what we know as Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Why?
God’s people have been away. Many have not heard this because they were in exile. Now it’s time to begin again. God wants his people to know his great mercy to form a nation, to rescue them from slavery, to care for them in the wilderness, to raise up leaders to guard them and to point them to Him.
God wants them to know “I love you. You are mine. I want to bless you. I want you to enjoy a great life. Here’s how.”
Yes, God welcomes his people home. He is providing a new city from the old. The gates are up to protect them. The Law is spoken to guide them. His love is evident to bless them.
Have you been away from his Word? I encourage you to take time to read God’s Word to hear his love, his law and his blessing for you.
Pause and Consider: how wonderful God’s Word is for your life.
Read Nehemiah 7-8
Neh 8:3 He read (the Law) aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.
CAN YOU imagine going to your local town square, courthouse steps or some public place to listen to the Bible read aloud to you from morning to noon? How about going to a weeklong “Bible fest” where for 7 days, each day is filled with someone reading the Bible to you? All you do is to listen and absorb the Word of God.
That’s what is happening here. Someone is reading what we know as Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Why?
God’s people have been away. Many have not heard this because they were in exile. Now it’s time to begin again. God wants his people to know his great mercy to form a nation, to rescue them from slavery, to care for them in the wilderness, to raise up leaders to guard them and to point them to Him.
God wants them to know “I love you. You are mine. I want to bless you. I want you to enjoy a great life. Here’s how.”
Yes, God welcomes his people home. He is providing a new city from the old. The gates are up to protect them. The Law is spoken to guide them. His love is evident to bless them.
Have you been away from his Word? I encourage you to take time to read God’s Word to hear his love, his law and his blessing for you.
Pause and Consider: how wonderful God’s Word is for your life.
Friday, April 8, 2011
April 9, 2011 Strong Hands
Strong Hands
Read Nehemiah 6
Neh 6:9 Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands.
I ADMIRE strong hands. They are usually hands of a person who can expertly craft and build. Strong hands mix strength with a delicate touch.
My son-in-law’s hands are like that. He works all day with tools to remove dents from cars. I look at those tools and have no concept of how they can remove a dent from the middle of a car door and not touch or disturb the rest of the door. He makes the dent smooth. It disappears, and you never would know it existed. He has strong hands with a delicate touch, the hands of a craftsman.
Our hands for the Gospel of God are to be those same kind of hands—strong and delicate, gifted to remove the “dents” that come into our lives.
God has given us hands to love and to serve one another. In the strength of his Spirit and in the delicate touch of his healing, we use our hands to pray for a broken heart, to embrace one in grief, to lift high in praise, to hold a child in love, to wipe away tears, to guide an aged one to the table. He has given us hands to “remove the dents” from people’s lives to make them whole in heart and Spirit.
Thanks you, God, for strong hands we can use as we trust your strong hands caring for us.
Pause and Consider: how powerful is a helping hand.
Read Nehemiah 6
Neh 6:9 Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands.
I ADMIRE strong hands. They are usually hands of a person who can expertly craft and build. Strong hands mix strength with a delicate touch.
My son-in-law’s hands are like that. He works all day with tools to remove dents from cars. I look at those tools and have no concept of how they can remove a dent from the middle of a car door and not touch or disturb the rest of the door. He makes the dent smooth. It disappears, and you never would know it existed. He has strong hands with a delicate touch, the hands of a craftsman.
Our hands for the Gospel of God are to be those same kind of hands—strong and delicate, gifted to remove the “dents” that come into our lives.
God has given us hands to love and to serve one another. In the strength of his Spirit and in the delicate touch of his healing, we use our hands to pray for a broken heart, to embrace one in grief, to lift high in praise, to hold a child in love, to wipe away tears, to guide an aged one to the table. He has given us hands to “remove the dents” from people’s lives to make them whole in heart and Spirit.
Thanks you, God, for strong hands we can use as we trust your strong hands caring for us.
Pause and Consider: how powerful is a helping hand.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
April 8, 2011 Renewal from Rubble
April 8
Renewal from Rubble
Read Nehemiah 4-5
Neh 4:1-2 When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, 2 and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, “What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble — burned as they are?”
THE NATIONS around Judah and Israel had it pretty good when Jerusalem was in ruins. The glory of God had departed. A strong country was gone. A beautiful city lay in ruins. The LORD’s people seemed weak and powerless. Surely they would never rise again.
But wait. What’s that sound in the distance? It is the sound of men and women working to move dirt and rubble. “Did you see that? The walls are going up? What’s happening?”
Judah’s enemies—God’s and Nehemiah’s enemies—ridiculed the rebuilding. Surely those weak Jews’ work would be weak, too. But they forgot one thing. Judah’s God was guiding them. Judah’s God was empowering them to build. Judah’s God was protecting them.
I think in their heart Sanballat and Tobiah and the others knew there would be no stopping Nehemiah and his people. Nehemiah was truly God’s man. He stayed true to God, trusting him and guiding his people as God guided him. God’s enemies would receive judgment. God’s people would receive reward.
Is your life in disarray, even a pile of rubble? Trust God to lead you to rebuilding your life in him. Be patient in the rebuilding. Stand firm against those who will doubt and attempt to derail you. There will be plenty of those. There is much more of God.
Pause and Consider: that God is so much, much more than anything that any rubble.
Renewal from Rubble
Read Nehemiah 4-5
Neh 4:1-2 When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, 2 and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, “What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble — burned as they are?”
THE NATIONS around Judah and Israel had it pretty good when Jerusalem was in ruins. The glory of God had departed. A strong country was gone. A beautiful city lay in ruins. The LORD’s people seemed weak and powerless. Surely they would never rise again.
But wait. What’s that sound in the distance? It is the sound of men and women working to move dirt and rubble. “Did you see that? The walls are going up? What’s happening?”
Judah’s enemies—God’s and Nehemiah’s enemies—ridiculed the rebuilding. Surely those weak Jews’ work would be weak, too. But they forgot one thing. Judah’s God was guiding them. Judah’s God was empowering them to build. Judah’s God was protecting them.
I think in their heart Sanballat and Tobiah and the others knew there would be no stopping Nehemiah and his people. Nehemiah was truly God’s man. He stayed true to God, trusting him and guiding his people as God guided him. God’s enemies would receive judgment. God’s people would receive reward.
Is your life in disarray, even a pile of rubble? Trust God to lead you to rebuilding your life in him. Be patient in the rebuilding. Stand firm against those who will doubt and attempt to derail you. There will be plenty of those. There is much more of God.
Pause and Consider: that God is so much, much more than anything that any rubble.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
April 7, 2011 Grieving Sin
Grieving Sin
Read 2 Samuel 24-Nehemiah 3
2 Sam 24:10 I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, O LORD, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing.
&
Neh 1:4 When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.
WE TRANSITION from the stories of David and the Kings of Israel to the book of Nehemiah. In the time between these books, Judah and Israel are two countries of God’s people. The kings of both countries most often lead their people away from God. Great sin occurs. And eventually God sends his people into exile in Babylon.
Jerusalem is destroyed. After 70 years of exile, God begins to work in the hearts of his faithful. One of them is Nehemiah, and he will be one to return to Jerusalem to begin to rebuild it to its pre-exile glory.
David and Nehemiah are biblical “heroes” in that God has chosen them to a special purpose, and they respond. There is one very important trait they share. They grieve sin—their own and their people’s.
We cannot be truly in God’s will until we grieve our sin. I actually experienced that today when I realized something I had done years ago was sin. I grieved it. My grief released it from me. I could sense God’s presence and his forgiveness.
Your God is holy. He grieves your sin. It is good and right for you to grieve your sin—and accept his forgiveness on your heart.
Pause and Consider: God’s forgiveness gift.
Read 2 Samuel 24-Nehemiah 3
2 Sam 24:10 I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, O LORD, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing.
&
Neh 1:4 When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.
WE TRANSITION from the stories of David and the Kings of Israel to the book of Nehemiah. In the time between these books, Judah and Israel are two countries of God’s people. The kings of both countries most often lead their people away from God. Great sin occurs. And eventually God sends his people into exile in Babylon.
Jerusalem is destroyed. After 70 years of exile, God begins to work in the hearts of his faithful. One of them is Nehemiah, and he will be one to return to Jerusalem to begin to rebuild it to its pre-exile glory.
David and Nehemiah are biblical “heroes” in that God has chosen them to a special purpose, and they respond. There is one very important trait they share. They grieve sin—their own and their people’s.
We cannot be truly in God’s will until we grieve our sin. I actually experienced that today when I realized something I had done years ago was sin. I grieved it. My grief released it from me. I could sense God’s presence and his forgiveness.
Your God is holy. He grieves your sin. It is good and right for you to grieve your sin—and accept his forgiveness on your heart.
Pause and Consider: God’s forgiveness gift.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
April 6, 2011 The Promise of Dawn
The Promise of Dawn
Read 2 Samuel 23
2 Sam 23:3-4 The God of Israel spoke, the Rock of Israel said to me: 'When one rules over men in righteousness, when he rules in the fear of God, 4 he is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning,
DO YOU LOVE the dawn? I do. An early dawn is one of my favorite aspects of summer. When the dawn comes, the day begins, and I can work in the cool light of early day. The promise of a new day is before me.
God compares himself to the light of a new day. He wants you to know that when you trust him, his light breaks into your life to promise you a great future with him.
His light will shine on you. You become a light for others. People see you, and God becomes plain to them. People listen to you, and they hear God’s compassion, love and truth. You light up where you walk and talk because God has “dawned” on you.
The dawn brings promise of a new day. God has dawned on you. Go shine on someone who is still in the dark.
Pause and Consider: the dawn and its promise.
Read 2 Samuel 23
2 Sam 23:3-4 The God of Israel spoke, the Rock of Israel said to me: 'When one rules over men in righteousness, when he rules in the fear of God, 4 he is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning,
DO YOU LOVE the dawn? I do. An early dawn is one of my favorite aspects of summer. When the dawn comes, the day begins, and I can work in the cool light of early day. The promise of a new day is before me.
God compares himself to the light of a new day. He wants you to know that when you trust him, his light breaks into your life to promise you a great future with him.
His light will shine on you. You become a light for others. People see you, and God becomes plain to them. People listen to you, and they hear God’s compassion, love and truth. You light up where you walk and talk because God has “dawned” on you.
The dawn brings promise of a new day. God has dawned on you. Go shine on someone who is still in the dark.
Pause and Consider: the dawn and its promise.
Monday, April 4, 2011
April 5, 2011 Your Lamp
Your Lamp
Read 2 Samuel 22-23
2 Sam 22:29-30 You are my lamp, O LORD; the LORD turns my darkness into light. 30 With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall.
DAVID HAS been through a terrible time. Absalom, his son, has killed another of David’s sons. Absalom has rebelled. Absalom is dead. Thousands of soldiers have died. Another rebellion has threatened Israel and Judah. It has been, I’m sure, a living hell for David.
Does he say, “Why, God? Why, me? What’s wrong with you? Why don’t you come and help me? Where are when I need you?” No. He praises God. Please be sure to read all of 2 Samuel 22, powerful and worshipful to our Sovereign LORD.
David had to know that the troubles he’d experienced were the results of his sin. He praises his God, who is still with him to strengthen him in his weakness and to free him from his sin.
Very often I see people reject God when life doesn’t go as they please. Unfortunately, what they please is sin. They don’t know God or want to know him. They prefer to be distant from him and angry with him because he doesn’t give them what they want. As spoiled children, we cry, “Give me!” and expect God to comply.
What we are to want is God himself. God wants us to receive his love, his law, his grace and his will. He desires we understand that he “turns my darkness into light” and gives us the light to see our way out of the dark cells of sin that imprison us.
Yes, God is freedom. Follow him and praise him. Worship him and live in his light and in his strength.
Pause and Consider: how beautiful it is to live in freedom.
Read 2 Samuel 22-23
2 Sam 22:29-30 You are my lamp, O LORD; the LORD turns my darkness into light. 30 With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall.
DAVID HAS been through a terrible time. Absalom, his son, has killed another of David’s sons. Absalom has rebelled. Absalom is dead. Thousands of soldiers have died. Another rebellion has threatened Israel and Judah. It has been, I’m sure, a living hell for David.
Does he say, “Why, God? Why, me? What’s wrong with you? Why don’t you come and help me? Where are when I need you?” No. He praises God. Please be sure to read all of 2 Samuel 22, powerful and worshipful to our Sovereign LORD.
David had to know that the troubles he’d experienced were the results of his sin. He praises his God, who is still with him to strengthen him in his weakness and to free him from his sin.
Very often I see people reject God when life doesn’t go as they please. Unfortunately, what they please is sin. They don’t know God or want to know him. They prefer to be distant from him and angry with him because he doesn’t give them what they want. As spoiled children, we cry, “Give me!” and expect God to comply.
What we are to want is God himself. God wants us to receive his love, his law, his grace and his will. He desires we understand that he “turns my darkness into light” and gives us the light to see our way out of the dark cells of sin that imprison us.
Yes, God is freedom. Follow him and praise him. Worship him and live in his light and in his strength.
Pause and Consider: how beautiful it is to live in freedom.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
April 4, 2011 In Peace
In Peace
Read 2 Samuel 19-21
2 Sam 19:19 “May my lord not hold me guilty. Do not remember how your servant did wrong on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem. 5 the king put it out of his mind.”
DAVID IS victorious. He has the power to condemn his enemies. But he forgives.
This is a picture of our God’s desire to be our King in peace and forgiveness. Because we are born into the sin of Adam, we are born separate from God. Essentially, we are God’s enemies.
But God sent his peacemaker, Jesus Christ, to be our Father in Heaven. Gracefully, our Father in Heaven accepts the blood of Jesus as the way to our peace with him. (Rom 8:1 there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus & Rom 5:10 For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son)
When we call on Jesus as Lord, we say to the Father, “Forgive us that we have been your enemy. We want to live in peace with you.” God, then, releases his condemnation from you and saves you!
Receive Jesus, the Peacemaker. Welcome him into your life. In the power of the Holy Spirit, live in peace with your Father in Heaven.
Pause and Consider: how you can be a peacemaker in someone’s life.
Read 2 Samuel 19-21
2 Sam 19:19 “May my lord not hold me guilty. Do not remember how your servant did wrong on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem. 5 the king put it out of his mind.”
DAVID IS victorious. He has the power to condemn his enemies. But he forgives.
This is a picture of our God’s desire to be our King in peace and forgiveness. Because we are born into the sin of Adam, we are born separate from God. Essentially, we are God’s enemies.
But God sent his peacemaker, Jesus Christ, to be our Father in Heaven. Gracefully, our Father in Heaven accepts the blood of Jesus as the way to our peace with him. (Rom 8:1 there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus & Rom 5:10 For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son)
When we call on Jesus as Lord, we say to the Father, “Forgive us that we have been your enemy. We want to live in peace with you.” God, then, releases his condemnation from you and saves you!
Receive Jesus, the Peacemaker. Welcome him into your life. In the power of the Holy Spirit, live in peace with your Father in Heaven.
Pause and Consider: how you can be a peacemaker in someone’s life.
April 3, 2011 Make Your Home Right
Make Your Home Right
Read 2 Samuel 16-18
2 Sam 18:7 There the army of Israel was defeated by David’s men, and the casualties that day were great — twenty thousand men.
&
2 Sam 18:33 “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you — O Absalom, my son, my son!”
DAVID MOURNS deeply for his son. It is a lament heard down through the centuries as we consider a father’s loss and a son’s rebellion. A broken family experiences the worst possible consequences.
Then I wonder how David felt about the 20,000 men who had been killed and wounded? The war, the intrigue, the lying, the spying, the nation divided had all been caused by sin in David’s household. I have the impression it began with David’s sin with Bathsheba and against Uriah, the Hittite.
David killed a man for sexual lust. Absalom killed his half-brother who was guilty of sexual lust, and David ignores Absalom. Was, perhaps, David feeling guilty over his past transgressions? Was he feeling unworthy to discipline his sons? Could be.
Absalom rebels. Thousands die. Wives become widows. Children lose their fathers. A nation loses the gifts and strength of 20,000 fighting men who protected Israel from her enemies.
Weekly I see people who are living broken lives because they come from broken homes. What happens in a home never stays there. The brokenness moves through our culture as a deadly cancer, destroying people’s lives and the community.
What’s happening in your home? Is there something you need to make right? Do it now before it spreads.
Pause and Consider: that what we do always affects someone else, perhaps a whole community.
Read 2 Samuel 16-18
2 Sam 18:7 There the army of Israel was defeated by David’s men, and the casualties that day were great — twenty thousand men.
&
2 Sam 18:33 “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you — O Absalom, my son, my son!”
DAVID MOURNS deeply for his son. It is a lament heard down through the centuries as we consider a father’s loss and a son’s rebellion. A broken family experiences the worst possible consequences.
Then I wonder how David felt about the 20,000 men who had been killed and wounded? The war, the intrigue, the lying, the spying, the nation divided had all been caused by sin in David’s household. I have the impression it began with David’s sin with Bathsheba and against Uriah, the Hittite.
David killed a man for sexual lust. Absalom killed his half-brother who was guilty of sexual lust, and David ignores Absalom. Was, perhaps, David feeling guilty over his past transgressions? Was he feeling unworthy to discipline his sons? Could be.
Absalom rebels. Thousands die. Wives become widows. Children lose their fathers. A nation loses the gifts and strength of 20,000 fighting men who protected Israel from her enemies.
Weekly I see people who are living broken lives because they come from broken homes. What happens in a home never stays there. The brokenness moves through our culture as a deadly cancer, destroying people’s lives and the community.
What’s happening in your home? Is there something you need to make right? Do it now before it spreads.
Pause and Consider: that what we do always affects someone else, perhaps a whole community.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Aprpil 2, 2011 Risk the Wounds
Risk the Wounds
Read 2 Samuel 13-15
2 Sam 14:14 But God does not take away life; instead, he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him.
A FAMILY breaks down. King David, the one who has conquered a giant, subdued nations, and escaped death many times, is incapable of going to his son and saying, “Let’s work this out. I love you.” In this scripture a woman reminds David what God does and what God is doing.
God’s son Adam sinned and left the household. But God has pursued the children of Adam ever since to be one with him again.
David has allowed Absalom to leave the household. As he is awakened to his grievous error of indifference (it seems—or is it fear?), he calls Absalom back home. Yet, David still keeps his distance. He is unwilling to truly care for his son whom he loves. He would rather live separate from his son than deal with any conflict and possible wounds of restoration.
God, your heavenly Father, comes into the conflicts of your heart to draw you to him. His Son, Jesus, suffered conflict to the death to bring the peace of life into you. –Isa 53:5 “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
That’s the kind of father David needed to be. He needed to show Absalom how much he loved him. He needed to go into the conflict of their relationship, be willing to suffer through the wounds and strive to heal the wounds. Parents, is there something separating you from your children? Go to them, even if it’s hard and you risk being wounded. Say to your child, “I love you. Let’s figure out how we can live together.”
Pause and Consider: how much you love your children, siblings and parents.
Read 2 Samuel 13-15
2 Sam 14:14 But God does not take away life; instead, he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him.
A FAMILY breaks down. King David, the one who has conquered a giant, subdued nations, and escaped death many times, is incapable of going to his son and saying, “Let’s work this out. I love you.” In this scripture a woman reminds David what God does and what God is doing.
God’s son Adam sinned and left the household. But God has pursued the children of Adam ever since to be one with him again.
David has allowed Absalom to leave the household. As he is awakened to his grievous error of indifference (it seems—or is it fear?), he calls Absalom back home. Yet, David still keeps his distance. He is unwilling to truly care for his son whom he loves. He would rather live separate from his son than deal with any conflict and possible wounds of restoration.
God, your heavenly Father, comes into the conflicts of your heart to draw you to him. His Son, Jesus, suffered conflict to the death to bring the peace of life into you. –Isa 53:5 “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
That’s the kind of father David needed to be. He needed to show Absalom how much he loved him. He needed to go into the conflict of their relationship, be willing to suffer through the wounds and strive to heal the wounds. Parents, is there something separating you from your children? Go to them, even if it’s hard and you risk being wounded. Say to your child, “I love you. Let’s figure out how we can live together.”
Pause and Consider: how much you love your children, siblings and parents.
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