Devotions

“Happy Independence Day!”  This day commemorates what happened on July 4, 1776, when the original thirteen colonies adopted the Declaration of Independence and declared they were a new nation, no longer under the rule of an English monarchy.  We celebrate with parades, speeches, fireworks, picnics and patriotism.

As a nation and a people, we really identify with “independence.” We even get a bit arrogant in it. We don’t want anyone to tell us what to do or how to do it. Our battle cry is freedom, liberty, self-determination, self-sufficiency! We want that in our politics, our social climate, and our religions.

Unfortunately, independence doesn’t wear as well on religion as it does on politics.  In fact, as Christians, it is not “independence” that we should be celebrating at all, it is “dependence.”  It is only in Christ Jesus that we find true freedom and liberty.  Abandoning our self-determination and self-sufficiency, we find we are truly free as we cast everything upon Him.  He takes our sins, our shame, our burdens and bondages and gives us righteousness, hope and true peace.

Beloved, let us celebrate every day as “Happy Dependence Day!”

“Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.” [Psalm 68:19 NIV]

Bob and I went to Costco to pick up supplies for the church. We needed bottled water. Water is heavy. I can lift the smaller packages of water I get from the grocery stores, a 24-bottle case is doable, but Costco cases are double that. I can’t lift them, and Bob is limited following his shoulder replacement to less than 20 pounds until October. So, he used his good arm and grabbed one side of a case, I grabbed the other, and between us we got the water in the cart, from the cart to the car, and from the car into the church. Neither one of us could have done it alone, but by working together we finished what we set out to do.

Galatians 6:2: “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” [NIV]

Paul writes that we as spiritual believers are to help carry each other’s burdens. By doing that, we fulfill the law of Christ, which is the law of love.  That is what happened when I called my friend last Thursday and broke open my heart before her. I offered up my burden and she got under the load to help me carry it. In turn, she opened her heart to me and I am praying for her.

When we listen or pray, when we respond in love, when we give a smile, hug someone or hold them as they cry, we help them to carry their burden. We may think we can do this life on our own and maybe we will even succeed for a time, but at some point, we are going to meet up with a burden that is too big, too heavy to carry alone.  Bob and I could carry the water only by doing it together.  When my sorrow of heart became too heavy, my friend came alongside.

Father, thank you for godly friends who are willing to help bear our burdens.  Help me to also be that kind of friend to others.  Amen.

Ps 13:2: “How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart?” [NIV]

David’s songs always impress me with their honesty. He is so transparent as he puts pen to his soul, whether he is praising God’s goodness and greatness or examining his own thoughts and desires.  Often his songs begin with his troubles and end in God’s praise.  Psalm 13 is structured that way.

David seems a bit worn down in this song; worn from the constant battle with his enemies.  His cry of “How long …?” is one that has probably crossed all our lips.  How long, God, must I face this problem, endure this sickness, struggle with this circumstance?

I know lately I have wrestled with my thoughts and had sorrow in my heart, so much so that I called my good, trusted friend last week knowing that she would understand.  And she did.  She didn’t solve my wrestling or remove the sorrow, but she listened as I poured out my heart. I know that she will be praying for me, just as she knows I pray for her.

I know also that like David, I can give this sorrow of heart to my Lord and Savior.  He will listen.  He wrestled with a sorrow in the Garden of Gethsemane that nearly overwhelmed Him, so I know He understands mine.  I know that I can trust His love.

Ps 13:5-6: “But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me.”  [NIV]

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 stiff-necked rebellious, murmuring and grumbling?

Father God, I want to live in Your presence and in Your power and in Your promises.  Remove my hard heart, my rebellious will, my murmuring and grumbling spirit.  Amen.

Paul closes his letter to the Romans with greetings to a list of people.  On Paul’s list is a man named Apelles.  “Greet Apelles, whose fidelity to Christ has stood the test.”  [Romans 16:10 NIV]

Not much is known about Apelles, but what we can glean from this short greeting is amazing.  His name, Apelles, means “called.”  At some time, Apelles heard the call of Christ in salvation and responded.  We also can glean that he was known to Paul.  Their paths of ministry crossed at some point and Paul now sends his greetings.

There are two other notable things we know about Apelles. We know he was tested.  We can only imagine what that testing was.  The very fact that Paul, who was grievously tested throughout his ministry made note of it, implies that Apelles may have faced something quite severe.

The second thing we know is that Apelles stood faithful to his Lord in the testing … his “fidelity to Christ has stood the test.”

That is high commendation coming from such a one as Paul the Apostle.  That is praise any of us would love to have … called, tested, and found faithful.

I can’t wait to meet Apelles around the throne and hear “the rest of the story!”

Father God, may you find us faithful in whatever test we face for the name and glory of Christ Jesus. Amen

Ps 139:14: “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made…”

Most of us are familiar with Psalm 139, David’s praise of God’s knowledge of him and care for him.  How often I have heard that phrase found in verse 14 above, “fearfully and wonderfully made.”  Perhaps more than any other time we have scientific proof of that in the study of our DNA—our genetic structure.

Lately, I’ve been thinking the genes I received from my parents aren’t all that wonderful. In my 70 years, I’ve had 14 surgeries (starting at age 4), some minor, others major, some successful, others not.  I have some lasting effects from some of them.  I’ve also had tinnitus (ringing in my ears) since I was 19.

My mother’s family had very thin hair which almost disappeared by the time they hit their 60’s; my father’s side had thick hair that turned gray when they were very young.  Yep, you guessed it, my thin hair began turning gray when I was in my 20’s, and then started falling out in my 60’s.

Like I said, my genes from my parents gave me a body that seems more fragile than some.  But, with all the weaknesses, I still praise God as David did, for there is another part of that song that is even more precious to me.  “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” [v16 NIV]

God knows my days, every one of them.  Whether many or few, God designed each one.  I need never fear that my genetic structure with all its weaknesses and frailties will rule the day. On one day in 1973 God gave me salvation. On one day in my future God will also give me an eternally new genetic structure.

Father, I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made and you have ordained my days, my pathway to come home to You is set in Your wisdom and love.  Amen.

I had connectivity issues with my computer last Saturday.  Some websites loaded, but very slowly and not the ones I wanted.  I rebooted the computer.  Same problems came up.  Then I thought it might be that I’ve installed too many applications on my computer, so I decided to uninstall them.

It took a long time. Things that only took 30 seconds to install, took about 5 minutes to uninstall. As I watched my computer struggling to get rid of these worthless applications, it constantly flashed messages to me to “have patience—this may take a while.”

I began to chuckle. While watching my computer struggling to uninstall, I saw my heart. The Scripture that immediately came to mind was Hebrews 12:1: “…let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles….”  [NIV]

Sin so easily installs in our hearts.  It only takes a moment, a few seconds of a bad decision or choice and we’ve downloaded something worthless into our souls.  The struggle to uninstall that worthless sin takes so much longer, but if left unchecked, it will slow us down and affect our connecting with our Lord.  We must recognize its presence, confess and ask for forgiveness, and learn to receive cleansing from God.  How much better it would have been to not have installed it in the first place!

1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”  

(Oh, and as for my computer.  I went on a worship walk around the neighborhood and when I came back, it worked just fine.)

Father, thank you.  Amen.

I served as Hospice Chaplain in California just prior to moving to Idaho. One day when I was on call for the hospital chaplain, I received a call asking me to report to the Emergency Department. When I arrived, I was told that a young woman had been brought in by her boyfriend. She was dead on arrival. They had called the girl’s mother who was on her way and asked me to be with her when they broke the news.

Upon hearing the news, the mother began to sob, and kept repeating one word, “Why?”.  I learned a long time ago that “Why?” is not so much a question as it is a cry of pain, and that we make matters much worse when we try to answer as if it were a question. I simply held her for a while. Eventually her pastor arrived and seeing him she again began to sob out “Why, why, why?”

His response was to tell her that Christians are not to ask why, that it is a lack of faith. He sounded so harsh. As they turned to go, I slipped my card in her hand. A few days after the funeral she called, explaining that she could not stop asking “Why?”, but felt she could not talk to her pastor. I told her to pray every day and ask God either to give her the answer to her “Why?”, or take away her need to ask.

It was more than a year before I heard from her again. She called to tell me that she had been praying every day and that over the past weeks she realized that God had taken away her need to know “Why?”.  She had found, she said, a measure of peace.

God doesn’t always give explanations, but he always gives a promise. When Paul asked God to remove his thorn in the flesh, God did not. He did, however, give Paul a promise that His grace would be sufficient. He took away Paul’s need to ask. 2 Corinthians 12:8-9:  “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you….'” 

We do not live on explanations or answers to our questions, we live on God’s promises and His grace.

Ps 40:6:  Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have pierced…. [NIV]

“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire …” David speaks prophetic words about the Messiah in verses 6-10 of Psalm 40.  By Divine inspiration, he understood that the Levitical sacrificial system was not the ultimate pathway to God.  Lambs and goats would never be sufficient to atone for the sin of mankind.  Instead God would send His Son, and the Son would submit Himself as a servant to do the work and will of the Father.

“But my ears you have pierced …” refers to the Old Testament law regarding indentured servants found in Exodus 21.  If a Hebrew sold himself to another to pay a debt, he was to serve for six years and then be set free without paying anything.  However, the servant could – out of love for his master and by choice – remain a servant for life.  To seal that choice, the servant would be taken before the judges and his master would than take an awl and pierce his earlobe.  [v2-6 NIV]

Jesus came as a servant … as He said to seek and save the lost.  He did it willingly, as God revealed prophetically through David.  We, too, are servants.  And like our Master, we must offer our ears to be pierced.

Serving Christ Jesus is not an occasional duty.  It is not something we fit into our lives when we have time. Servanthood is also not something reserved only for sacred settings. Our servanthood is played out in everyday life.  It’s getting into the ditches to find the wounded and castaways.  It is searching the highways and byways for the lost.

Father, I offer my ears to be pierced.  I love You.  I want to serve you in this life so that I might glory in You in the next.  Amen.

When I was a little girl my mother taught me a children’s song, “Oh playmate, Come out and play with me / And bring your dollies three / Climb up my apple tree / Slide down my rain barrel / Into my cellar door / And we’ll be jolly friends /Forever more.”

I am 70 years old and I still remember that song, along with many other such silly songs. I also remember sitting in the grass picking yellow dandelions, pulling off one petal at a time and calling out, “He loves me; he loves me not,” with each.  Funny the things we remember from our childhood.

“He loves me, He loves me not.”  Is that the way we think of our relationship with Christ Jesus?  When things are going well, we have health, good finances, and answered prayers, “He loves me.”  When the times are tough, circumstances are trying, or God seems silent to our needs, “He loves me not.”

It is during those “He-loves-me-not” times that we need to remember another song from our childhood, “Jesus Loves Me This I know.”

Take a moment and listen as Marshall Hall sings that wonderful children’s song. I hope you like his rendition, but if not, you cannot help but love the reaction of the audience.  You can see it on the faces of all ages–they have come to the last petal and they know, “He loves me.”  Yes, He really, really loves us.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQVOld9XFkM