Past Devotions

Hate. Violence. Fear. There is one thing those three have in common. They have a way of spreading. The media has been all over the violence spawned by hatred. In the last couple months, I’ve seen people assaulted because they have on a hat or shirt or their car has a bumper sticker for a specific person or political party. The other day I watched video of women participating in a peaceful Pro-Life protest being attacked by those who disagreed with the protest.

The climate of hatred and violence is spreading and being touted by various leaders as a way of getting what is wanted. When hate and violence spread, fear also spreads. We lose the freedom of being able to express our views on life, politics, or God without the fear of reprisals. When we fear reprisals, we will often simply not speak.

The LORD, however, does not want us cowering in a corner somewhere, voluntarily mute because of our fear.  In fact, the LORD, commands us to speak, to tell others about His wonderful works. “Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.  Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.” [Ps 105:1-4]

One of the favorite sayings of Jesus was, “I tell you ….”  The Gospels are full of the things Jesus told about His Father, His own work, His Kingdom.

Beloved, we cannot let the current social climate command our response. We must obey the LORD rather than men.  But let’s remember that our response to hatred and violence cannot be in like manner. More on that tomorrow.

I love the story of Gideon … the one I’ve dubbed the “Who Me?” Mighty Warrior. When the Angel of the LORD came to Gideon and called him “mighty warrior” in Judges 6:11-12, Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress. What that means is that he was hiding. Threshing floors were open areas where the wheat could be beaten, allowing the heavier kernels to fall to the floor while the wind carried the chaff away. Winepresses were probably in cool hidden places, like caves. Gideon is hiding away from the those invading the land. God finds him anyway and calls him a mighty warrior.

The part I really love though is a few verses later. In verses 17-18, Gideon replies to the LORD’s calling to be God’s instrument to defeat the enemy. “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.” And the LORD said, “I will wait until you return.”

Gideon goes home and prepares a meal, a young goat and bread. Ever wonder how long that took? There were no freezers with meat ready, nor bakeries down the block. He’s got to catch the goat, kill the goat, skin the goat, cut up the goat and put the pieces in a basket and grab a pot with broth to cook. He’s got to get the flour and make unleavened bread and bake it. All the while he’s left the LORD waiting in the winepress for him to return.

I don’t know if God waited for an hour or four, but the LORD did wait. And when Gideon returned, the LORD accepted the sacrifice and consumed it with fire in an instant. That was Gideon’s sign.

What a gracious God we serve, He is willing to wait for us. Let’s not keep Him waiting too long while we are off finding our goats and baking our bread!

“The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, ‘The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.’  [Judges 6:11-12]

“Who me?” Now that’s probably not what Gideon said, but from the debate with the Angel of the LORD that follows, that’s pretty much the gist of the conversation.  Every time the Angel of the LORD said something, Gideon began to debate … usually beginning with the word, “but.”  [If you haven’t read the story of Gideon, you’ll find it in Judges 6-8.]

God eventually won and Gideon, after some testing that what he was hearing was coming from the LORD, did what the Lord said. He followed God’s instructions, tore down the altar to the vile false god, Baal, and defeated the Midianites with a handful of men using trumpets and torches.

“Who me?” That is often the way I respond to God. Can God really use an aging woman (72 in a couple months), a small church in a little-known community in a small state to change anything?

God seems to think He can. My response is to get on board with God’s thinking and move as the Spirit moves. I want to see our generation, our nation, turned to God in righteousness and truth.

For some people, music captivates soul and spirit. I am one of those people. I can listen to a good sermon and come away contemplating a lot of things. I can read a good book and do the same. But when I hear or sing a good song, I find my soul and spirit soaring with the words and music. That is why I love my worship walks, with my MP3 player playing the songs I love, praising and walking. That is what I miss the most when I work.  I get my steps in, surely, but I don’t get my worship.

We sang a song last Sunday during the service that touched my soul. “Draw Me Close” was written by Michael W. Smith.  The lyrics begin: “Draw me close to you, Never let me go, I lay it all down again, To hear you say that I’m your friend.”

And the chorus declares: “You’re all I want, You’re all I’ve ever needed, You’re all I want, Help me know you are near.”

As I sang, I was captivated by that line, “I lay it all down again.” I realized in that moment, that I often pick up what I’ve surrendered to the LORD. I go to the altar, I cast all my cares upon Him. Then I turn around the next day and pick them back up again. I draw close to the LORD, and then I move away. He continually calls me to draw near. He continually urges me to lay it all down again.  He knows that all I need is Him.

Oh, Lord, help me to lay it all down again. Help me to realize how near You are to me, how much a friend You are to me.  Amen.

As you read through your Bible (and you should do that once a year), you will notice that God reminds His people, especially when they begin to stray from Him or allow things in their lives that may cause them to fall or fail.  In the Old Testament, He continually sent prophets to remind them that 1) He had delivered them from slavery in Egypt; and, 2) He had brought them into the Promised Land. They, apparently, often forgot those things.

In the New Testament, the Apostles used the same approach. They reminded the Christians that 1) God had sent His Son, Jesus the Christ, to save them; and, 2) that salvation had a purpose, that they might live obediently and serve the Lord faithfully.

“This is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them.” [1 John 3:23-24]

What is our purpose as Christians? Is it simply to escape judgment? Is it to avoid hell? If that is all it is, we will go through this life unfulfilled. We might gain heaven, but we will not live up to all we are in Christ Jesus.  We will fail to realize how abundant this life can be. I want to be all I can be now … I want to be faithful and obedient to the One who saved me.

God calls me His child. I pray I can live worthy of that title. I pray that my life will honor Christ Jesus my Lord in every way, not just in eternity, but in the here and now.

One day Jesus and His disciples decided to leave Judea and return to Galilee. Jesus took them through Samaria because He had a supernatural “appointment” to meet a woman by a well.  Tired and weary, Jesus rested there while His disciples headed on down to the city to look for something to eat.  You all know the story from John 4. Jesus began a conversation with a woman, that alone was very unusual. The conversation turned from well-water to living water and Jesus tells her that He is the Messiah that all have been anticipating.

It is at this point that the disciples return and are shocked that Jesus is talking to a woman. When the woman leaves to tell the town what she has heard, the disciples urge Jesus to eat. But Jesus says to them “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”

The disciples are thinking literally, that possibly someone else brought Jesus something to eat. But he clarifies things for them. “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.”

Finish. It means to complete, perfect, accomplish, in both English and Greek. Jesus’ greatest desire was to finish the salvation for which the His Father has sent Him. Paul expressed the same desire in Acts, “if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me.” [20:24]

What is our greatest desire? Is it to finish well what God has given us to do?

The current estimated jackpot for one of the lotteries is now around $253Million. Ever thought about what you could do with $253Million?  I have. In fact, I thought about it Saturday morning when I discovered that our washer is leaking. Of course, this was while Bob was out replacing the key for the Jeep (one of those electronic keys that costs around $200). It needed replacing because he ran over his with the lawnmower. We just replaced the dryer. It seems like the drain on the finances never ends. Oh, and the house payment went up because the value went up which caused the insurance and taxes to go up. Humm, $253Million?

I guess though you actually have to play the lottery to win the lottery. At least that is what I have heard. And since I don’t play, I guess I’m not going to be a winner.

Winners of big jackpots don’t always come out winners anyway. Often those who win the most, lose the most. They squander it all and end up bankrupt.  Just because you have everything is no guarantee that you will use it wisely.

One of God’s basic principles is stewardship.  Stewardship is defined as the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care. 2 Peter 1:3 reminds us that we already have everything we need for life and godliness. “[God’s] divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” 

How we value it, how we wisely and carefully manage is vital.  Wise stewardship of all God has given will enable us to “participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”  [2 Peter 1:4]

God’s left nothing out. He’s given us everything we need. But just like those lottery winners who are given more than enough – everything they can possibly need can be purchased with that jackpot – we can end up squandering it all instead of using it wisely.

It rained last Thursday. It was the first good rain we have had in quite a while. When the weather is bad I walk inside the building on my breaks and lunch hour. It’s a great building in which to do so. The hall is long and wide and sections of it are open past the second story. The walls along those sections are glass, and so is the slanted ceiling. When it rains you can both see and hear it hit the ceiling and cascade down the walls.

One of the things about walking on breaks and lunch at the same time each weekday, you often meet the same people. There are all kinds of people in the hallway. People walk in groups or singly, some have their earbuds in and faces planted in their phones. Others stroll or stride; some smile, some don’t. There’s one gentleman I see about every day. He strides, head up, smile on his face, often looking at the wonderful scenes outside the massive windows. We greet each other. Last Thursday, he remarked how great it was to hear the rain hit the ceiling and windows. I agreed.

There is a song by William McDowell on his “Revival” CD. One line in the song says, “I hear the sound of the rain coming.”  As I walked those hallways Thursday that line kept running through my mind. I could hear the sound of the natural rain and it was grand! At the same time, there were those so busy, so interested in their phones, that they appeared to not even notice that it was raining.

We often speak of revival in terms of rain, as the rain of the Holy Spirit coming upon us. As I walked, and listened, and watched the rain fall, I realized that so many will miss it. They will be so busy with the world that they will walk with heads down, earbuds in, completely unaware that God is sending the rain of His Spirit to earth. I, for one, don’t want to miss the Holy Spirit’s rain! My head is up, LORD, and I’ listening!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-SI_HRWooA

When I get in the car each weekday, I face a 60-mile round trip to my temp work location. I’ve got two choices, a 2-lane highway and the interstate. Each one has problems, depending on the time of day.  I pray as soon as I put the Jeep in drive. I pray that God will keep others from hurting/hindering me and that I might not hurt or hinder others. I pray that God will help me merge, yield, change lanes, etc.  I also pray that I’ll be a good witness of Christ, for strength, and anything else I think I might need for that day.

Despite all the prayer, there are still what I call “Grrr Moments.” Last Tuesday I left home, headed out on the highway, had all my prayers said, including one that morning that my heart would be right with God. About halfway to work, a mere 20 minutes from prayer, I lost my temper and had a “Grrr Moment” when cars just stopped for no good reason in front of me to watch painters stripe the road – on the other side of the highway.

“Grrr” escaped my heart and lips. I told God how people could be so frustrating sometimes. Then I heard God whisper, “now you know how I feel.”

I knew He meant me. I am often frustrating to Him. I yearn to do the right things but end up “Grr-ing” through some event or interaction. I find my anger often rises about the silliest things. I pray, and 20 minutes later I “Grr.” I started to laugh as I thought about how I’m surely as frustrating to God as people around me can be to me. Then I repented.

God forgive me my “Grr Moments.” Help me to be more like your Son, no matter what circumstance I am facing. Amen.