Devotions

I will be with you. What a delightful promise! Two Scriptures immediately came to mind. In the Old Testament, God’s promise to Israel in Isaiah 43:1-2: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.” [NIV]

In the New Testament it is the promise in Hebrews 13:5: “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” [NIV]

I will be with you. God has promised to be with us, to never leave or forsake us. That is a promise that I cling to often. Yet … there is so much more. God with us. Matthew 1:23: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”-which means, “God with us.” [NIV]

The God who is with us is the God who walked in our sandals through this dusty earth. He is the God who left glory and all the prerogatives of being God and came as a baby to abide with us. He understands our humanness because He was cloaked in it. He was tempted as we are (but without sin). He knows what it means to be rejected, misunderstood, persecuted, hungry, exhausted, forsaken. This God who promises I will be with you, who knows what it is like to BE us, laid down His life FOR us.

So, when God says, I will be with you … He was, He is, and He always will be Immanuel.

I will provide for you. When I saw this on the magnet in Bob’s room my mind went immediately to the Scripture in Philippians 4:19: “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” [NKJV]

But when I began to think about God’s provision the Lord took me to Genesis 22 instead. Abraham was being tested by God … called to do something that makes most of us recoil in horror … offer his son Isaac to God as a burnt offering on Mt Moriah. God knew Abraham’s depth of faith but needed Abraham to understand that also.

Abraham and Isaac climbed up the mountain with everything necessary for the burnt offering, except as Isaac noted, there was no lamb. Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” [vs 8 NIV]

And of course, God did exactly that. As Abraham raises the knife, God restrains His hand and provides His own lamb in Isaac’s place. I will provide for you.

 Isaac’s greatest need at that moment that knife was raised was for God’s faithfulness to provide a lamb in his place. Our greatest need for God’s provision is the same as Isaac’s. We need God’s faithfulness to provide the Lamb that will take our place. As God was faithful to Abraham and Isaac with the ram caught in the bush, God is faithful to provide for us His very own Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”  [John 1:29]

I will not fail you. That’s the second of 10 things I want to remember about God.  He will not fail us.

Remember that wonderful Scripture in Lamentations 3:22? “Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.” 

 God’s compassions will never fail us.  But what exactly did Jeremiah mean when He referred to God’s compassions.

The OT word for ‘compassions’ in this instance is racham.  Racham means compassion.  (In our English that is kindness, concern, care, consideration.)

Racham also refers to tender love, mercy, pity, and surprisingly something else.  Racham refers to the womb as cherishing the fetus.

As the womb envelops, protects, nourishes, and treasures the fetus until the fullness of time for that child to be born, so God’s compassions envelop, protect, nourish and treasure us until the fullness of time when we will be brought into His presence.

He will not fail us. Amen

I will bless you. This is the first of the 10 things God wants me to remember—at least according to the magnet I found on Bob’s gun cabinet.

The first occurrence of the words I will bless you is recorded in Genesis. God’s main promise (covenant) to Abraham began with those words. “I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore.” [22:17 NIV]

This promise of blessing was given to Abraham despite Abraham’s sins and failings. God kept His promise and Isaac was born. Some of God’s promises are contingent upon our response. Those are the “if/then” promises; if you do this/then I will do that. However, many of God’s promises do not depend on our character but on His faithfulness, and this promise to Abraham was absolutely dependent on God’s faithfulness.

The promise of blessing to Abraham is also referenced in Hebrews. The writer of Hebrews tells us that God did not promise this blessing only to Abraham but also gave His promise and oath to “the heirs of promise.” While Isaac and his descendants are the first of these heirs, all believers are included in the promise as “Abraham’s [spiritual] seed.” [Hebrews 6:14-20, 11:9, Galatians. 3:29]

God even confirmed His promise with an oath. In an oath the greater always witnesses for the lesser, and in this instance, there is no greater one than God, who cannot lie, and who always keeps His promises. God has promised to bless us as spiritual descendants of Abraham.

Too often we trivialize blessing, God blessed me with a good parking space. We need to remember the depth, width and length of the blessing that is the foundation of all blessing, that blessing which flows through the greatest descendant of Abraham, Jesus Christ.

I [we] have been blessed in Christ, that’s God’s promise, that’s God’s oath…I will bless you.

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” [Rom 10:9 NIV]

If you are reading this devotion this morning more than likely at some point in your life you did exactly what Paul wrote in Romans 10. You confessed that Jesus is Lord, you believed that He died, was buried and rose from the grave. And you know that through that confession, you are saved now and will be with Him one day.

Jesus is Lord.  Lord, NT:2962, kurios (koo’-ree-os); from kuros (supremacy); supreme in authority. Jesus is Lord. He is the supreme authority over and in our salvation. Salvation, of course, is our greatest need, but I wonder what would happen if we, His church, started claiming and confessing His Lordship over more than just our salvation.

What if we started seeking His Lordship over our bodies, our minds, our wills? What if we started claiming His Lordship over our jobs, our families, our finances, our marriages? What would happen if we started claiming His Supreme authority over our churches, our neighborhoods, our politicians, our scientists, our doctors, and our lawyers?

I wonder if we are stopping short of what God’s great will is. Jesus said that we are to pray that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We acknowledge with our minds that God’s will is the supremacy, the Lordship of Christ over all things, but are we praying that way? Are we expecting God’s Spirit to move in answer to those kinds of prayers? Or, are we stopping short? Something I am surely going to be thinking and praying about today.

I wrote a few days ago about fear. It is ugly and can pop up at any moment. I had an event that caused fear to rise in me. I spent a day fearing what the outcome might be, but the following morning I surrendered that fear to the LORD Jesus and I accepted His love and peace.

I found out a few days later than fear does not like to remain surrendered. It likes to re-appear and attempt once again to immobilize. That must be why there are so many Scriptures addressing fear in the Bible. God knew we would need each one!

I was looking at a few “fear” verses this morning and my heart grabbed hold of Psalm 27. “The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?” [vs1 NKJV]

The LORD, the LORD God Almighty is my light and my salvation. I accepted His invitation to be HIS more than one half century ago. Since I belong to the LORD, to God Almighty, is there anyone on earth that I should fear?

Is there anyone on earth greater than my LORD? Is there anyone on earth that is stronger than my LORD? Is there anyone on this earth that can overpower God’s love for me? No.

So, “Of whom shall I be afraid?” No One! Praise the LORD.

There is so much wrong with this world. I support the Tim Tebow Foundation, and I am often overwhelmed with sorrow when I read some of the stories told by the children that it rescues from slavery and exploitation around this world. But I don’t have to go to other parts of the world, I can find that same evil in my own backyard.

There are so many unanswered questions. Whenever we hear about tragedies, about how cruel people can be, about how evil often seems to flourish unhindered, we are confronted with the question … “Why does God allow this to happen?”

I truly wish I could answer that in a way that satisfies everyone, but that is not possible. What I can say is that no matter what I see in this life, I believe.

Evil things will happen, still I believe.

This world may be horribly broken, still I believe.

Illness, suffering and death may come, still I believe.

I believe God is Good.

I believe God loves us.

I believe Jesus died to take away our sins and opened the way to God our Father.

I believe Jesus is coming again and that one day all will be made right.

I believe.

“I know the One I have believed in and am persuaded that He is able to guard what has been entrusted to me until that day.” [2 Timothy 1:12 HCSB]

Fear is an ugly thing. It can pop up in a moment, unexpected and powerful. It can freeze us in our tracks. It happened to me this past Tuesday.

We were at the Costco gas station, and I pulled into a vacant space. I needed to back up to get in line with the pump. I backed about 5 feet and bumped the car behind me. I immediately hit my brakes and pulled forward. I got out of the car, heart racing. The older man who had the car behind me, scowled and immediately called for the attendant, who came right over.

His first words, “Get the store manager out here now.” The attendant explained that Costco was not involved with these types of accidents, and we should simply exchange information and insurance. Then he asked if Costco had video and she said yes.

The three of us looked over both cars and I could not see any damage on either one. The attendant and I both said there didn’t appear to be any damage. The other driver said, “You can’t tell.”

I took pictures of both cars and his information. He did the same. The attendant casually came over to me as he was snapping pictures of my information and said, “There’s nothing there.” She smiled and walked away.

When I got home, I looked up the man on Google and found he is an official from a nearby city. Immediately, I was fearful of what he might do or claim. I spent the day nursing that fear. Then this morning I remembered that the LORD promises that “fear” cannot separate us from the Love to God. I relinquished my fearfulness to the LORD and accepted His peace.  Thank you, LORD.

“And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.” [Romans 8:38 NLT]

My daily verse last Saturday was 1Thessalonians 4:16-17: “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we will always be with the Lord.”

 I needed to be reminded that those who love the LORD Christ Jesus will “always be with the LORD.”

I felt worn down. After a few weeks suffering with a pinched nerve in my neck, a head cold, two MRI’s, and waiting to talk to doctors, I was dragging. Except for medical visits, and one brief grocery pick up, I had not left the house. The pinched nerve in my neck caused intense pain and weakness in my shoulder and right arm. I was miserable.

Saturday’s daily verse reminded me that any day now, the LORD Himself could descent from heaven with a shout! And at any moment we could be caught up to meet Him in the air. But it was that last phrase in verse 17 that touched my heart … “we will always be with the LORD.”

I know that right now the LORD is with me. But I also know that sometimes the stresses of this life dull my senses of His presence. But when He comes back – WHEN He comes back – we will always BE with Him. I’m living in that promise today.

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!”  [1John 3:1 NIV]

The KJV says how great is the love the father has “bestowed” on us, and the new Holman Christian Standard says how great is the love the father has “given” us. I like the NIV translators best. I think the translators must have been feeling like I feel today. That English word “lavished” means bestowed, but it also means heaped, poured, smothered with, showered, covered, and loaded!

Nothing like being showered with the love of our Father God. The closest thing I can compare to in my life is the love I have for my children, grandchildren and great. I love spending time with them. I love taking them places and showing them new things. I love giving them gifts. I love smothering them with hugs and kisses. As great as my love for them, God’s love is even greater for me and you.

Jesus put it this way, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” [Matt 7:11 NIV]

How much more? So much more! So much more than we can even think or imagine. And Luke 11:13 tells us these good gifts come to us through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes to us through the sacrifice of God’s Son. God’s Son comes to us through that great love that the Father has lavished on us.

My praises rise to you today, Father, for Your great love.