Devotions

Heb 4:14-15:  “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens—Jesus the Son of God—let us hold fast to the confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tested in every way as we are, yet without sin.” [HCSB]

I had two great aunts who loved the Lord, Augusta, and Julie.  I met them for the first time when we moved to California from Pennsylvania.  Augusta came straight at our Catholicism with guns blazing.  Needless to say, even as a young girl I thought her idea of God wasn’t what I wanted.

Julie on the other hand, was full of smiles and wit and overflowing with grace.  She spoke of a Savior who was loving and kind, One who understood how tough life could be, One who loved me personally and wanted me to love Him personally. One, she said, I already knew from a distance, Jesus Christ.

That was a new revelation to me.  It took a number of years and other sets of experiences and circumstances before I embraced my Aunt Julie’s Jesus in my early 20’s.  But I trace those seeds planted back to her.

We have a Savior who understands how difficult temptation is because He too suffered it.  Unlike us, however, He never succumbed to it.  Now this sympathetic, empathetic Savior sits at the Right Hand of God and makes intercession for us.  His Spirit gives us strength to overcome.  And if we should fail, His blood covers us, and He reminds the Father that He has already born our punishment.

I truly love my Great Aunt Julie’s Jesus.  And I am so grateful to my Great Aunt Julie, who has long since gone to be with her Jesus.  She supplied what I was missing growing up … the truth that God loves us so much, so much¸ He provided a way to know Him personally, the way to be drawn to Him through His Son.

I wrote yesterday of the Word of God, that double edged sword that is living and active and able to penetrate and separate and judge the ideas and thoughts of our hearts.  It is a sword that not only judges but also heals. [Hebrews 4:12]

The scary part of Hebrews 4 happens when the writer goes on to tell us that God sees everything.  EVERYTHING!  “No creature is hidden from Him, but all things are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give an account.” [Hebrews 4:13 HCSB]

That’s not a very comforting thought for some.  That may not be a very comforting thought for many.  God sees everything, nothing is hidden from Him.  The good, the bad, and the ugly are all within God’s view.

I was raised in the Catholic Church.  My father was a cradle Catholic, and my mother converted when they got married.  I learned very early two important truths (for which I will be eternally grateful).  First, there is a God.  Second, I have a responsibility to Him.  Or as the writer above notes, “Him to Whom we must give account.”

Those two truths have accompanied me throughout my life. However, there was one problem with the things I learned as a child, that is, the thought of giving an account of all my actions to God brought in fear and guilt.

The God to Whom I must give an account seemed to be a God who was looking for my every mistake, who was reminding me of my unworthiness at every turn, who was seeking ways to keep me out of His presence rather than a way to draw me in closer.

It was not until I reached adulthood that I learned God was very different than what I thought.  I met my great aunt Julie … and then I met my great aunt Julie’s Jesus. And everything changed. More tomorrow.

Deuteronomy 6:23: “But he brought us out from [Egypt] to bring us in and give us the land that he promised on oath to our forefathers.”   [NIV]

“He brought us out … to bring us in.”  The Israelites were camped next to the Jordan River just across from the Promised Land.  Moses is reminding the nation about everything that has happened to them since God brought them out of Egypt, which included 40 years of wilderness wanderings while they got their act together.

God had brought them out of Egypt to bring them into the land He had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  They could have gotten there in 11 days. That was all – 11 days; instead, it took them 40 years.

Why so long to realize the wonderful inheritance they had in God?  Because they were stiff-necked, rebellious murmurers and grumblers. Every time they encountered a challenge or difficulty they wanted to run back to Egypt, to the land of “cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic.”  Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 10 that what happened to Israel after their exit from Egypt were examples and warnings to us so that we might not follow in their footsteps.

“He brought us out … to bring us in.”  God through the salvation of Jesus Christ brought us out of sin and darkness for a purpose – “to bring us in….” He brought us out so that we “may know the hope to which he has called [us], the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.”  [Eph 1:18-19 NIV]

I guess my thought today is, are we really living in the hope, the riches, the inheritance, and His incomparably great power, or are we, like Israel was, still wandering around in the wilderness, saved but still stiff-necked and rebellious, murmuring and grumbling?

Often when I am reading through a passage of Scripture, I will read it in a number of verses. Doing that expands my understanding.  I was reading in Nahum the other morning … I know … who reads Nahum in the morning!

Nahum the Elkoshite wrote down a vision of God’s vengeance against Nineveh. Inside that vision God speaks of the destruction, attack and downfall of Nineveh and her king.  Tucked in that first chapter, however, is a verse of comfort for those trust in the Lord.

Nahum 1:7: “The Lord is good, a stronghold in a day of distress; He cares for those who take refuge in Him.” [HCSB]

Nahum 1:7: “The Lord is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble; And He knows those who trust in Him.” [NKJV]

As I read that verse in both the Christian Standard and the New King James, I noticed a couple of things.  Both translations are identical when they state the guarantee that in the day of trouble or distress, the LORD is good and a stronghold.

But then I noticed the complementary way the translators described His goodness and strength in times of trouble and distress.

When God knows us, it is equal to God cares for us.

When we trust in Him, it is equal to taking refuge in Him.

Simple thoughts today about great truths tucked away in a book about God’s vengeance on an ungodly nation.

I have a Bible-reading plan that I use to go through my Bible once a year.  I have been using it for decades. Each day has two OT chapters, one Psalm or Proverb, and one NT chapter. Also, it is designed so that the Psalms, Proverbs and Gospels are read twice.

The year begins with Genesis 1, Psalm 1, and Matthew 1, and continues on from there. It also bounces around a bit when you get to the history books and the prophets. But in June there are six days of very interesting contrasts. In June you read Ecclesiastes and Ephesians side-by-side.

That is what I was doing last week.  (I know it is not June, but I am a bit ahead this year.)

Ecclesiastes begins with “Absolutely futile, everything is futile,” or “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” [HCSB, NKJV]

Ephesians begins “Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens.” [1:3 HCSB]

After Solomon speaks of the futility of everything, he goes on in 1:12-18 to write of the limitations of wisdom, ending with “For with much wisdom is much sorrow; as knowledge increases, grief increases.”

Paul, however, works his way through God’s rich blessings in 1:3-14, a wondrous prayer for believers in 1:15-19, and ends the chapter with God’s power in Christ Jesus in 1:20-23.

Tucked in Paul words are some of the most glorious thoughts every put to paper. Instead of futility and the limitations of earthly wisdom we have from Solomon, we find glorious grace, redemption, and forgiveness.  We find God has made lavished on us wisdom and understanding and has made know to us the mystery of His will.  We find we have an inheritance and a Savior who is seated at the right hand in the heavens – far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

If you have a chance, read Ecclesiastes 1 and 2 and then Ephesians 1. You will be transported from the lowest to the highest – all because of Christ Jesus our LORD and Savior.

Recently a Cessna aircraft carrying a pilot and two passengers was in the news. The pilot had a medical emergency and became “incoherent,” leaving the flying of the plane to the passengers.  The only problem, the passengers had never flown a plane.

Time Magazine reported one of the passengers called the tower. “’I’ve got a serious situation here,’” the man said Tuesday afternoon, according to audio on LiveATC.net, a website that broadcasts and archives air traffic controller communications. ‘My pilot has gone incoherent. I have no idea how to fly the airplane.’”

The passenger remained surprisingly calm.  Air traffic controller Robert Morgan, a 20-year veteran and certified flight instructor with experience piloting a Cessna aircraft took over talking the passenger down to a safe landing.

As I watched the video of that plane landing, I thought how wonderful that there was someone knowledgeable and willing to instruct the passenger how to land safely.  Of course, the passenger had to heed the instructions also or there would have been a much different outcome.

Funny how that is. Psalm 111:6-8 reminds us that we need to also heed the instructions. “He has shown His people the power of His works by giving them the inheritance of the nations. The works of His hands are truth and justice; all His instructions are trustworthy. They are established forever and ever, enacted in truth and in what is right.” [HCSB]

God has provided His people with instructions that are “trustworthy” to bring us through safely.  He has shown us over and over that the works of His hands are “truth and justice.” However, it is necessary for us to heed those instructions to land safely in His presence for eternity.

I have been going through my house and garage trying to divest myself of “stuff” that has accumulated over the years since we moved here in 2007. When Bob and I moved around a lot, we never accumulated much, but in the last 15 years that changed.  I am now trying to throw away or give away anything I am not using.

While going through storage containers in the garage I found a container packed to the brim with journals.  Hidden among the journals were a set of “Joy Books” dated from 1990 to 1995. I tossed the journals; I kept the Joy Books.

My Joy Books contained quips, sayings, cartoons, thoughts on faith and even old cards and thank you notes. I am now going through the Joy Books and have come across some treasures. Those treasures have reminded me that we can and should learn much from those who have gone before us.  Here is a precious treasure I found from Lancelot Andrews (1555-1626).

“To remember Thee, to worship Thee,

To confess to Thee, to praise Thee,

To bless Thee, to hymn Thee,

to give Thanks to Thee,

maker, nourisher, guardian, governor,

preserver, worker, perfector of all.

Lord and Father.

King and God.

Fountain of life and immortality,

Treasure of everlasting goods,

Whom the heavens hymn,

and the heaven of heavens,

the angels and all the heavenly powers

one to another crying continually—

And we the while, weak and unworthy under their feet—

Holy, Holy, Holy

Lord God of Hosts

Full is the whole heaven

And the whole earth

Of the majesty of Thy glory.”   Amen.