Past Devotions

Last Thursday night the Cleveland Browns won a football game, one that looked like they were about ready to lose. Now that may not sound like such a big deal until you know that the Browns hadn’t won a regular season football game for about 635 days. They didn’t win at all last year and their record the year before was almost as miserable.

Thursday night the starting quarterback was having a rough night and the crowd was calling for Baker Mayfield. He is the reigning Heisman Trophy winner from Oklahoma who was drafted No. 1 by the Browns. When the starter went out with a concussion, the crowd got their wish. Mayfield came in and led the team to a comeback. The crowd was wild. They were shouting for joy!  Finally, a win.

Psalm 95 begins, “¹ Oh come, let us sing to the LORD! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. ²Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.” [NKJV]

See that wonderful little word “shout.” It is the same word in both verses 1 and 2. It is ruwa. It is sometimes translated as “make a joyful noise.” It comes from a root word meaning “to split the ear with sound.”  It is a word that is often used for “blow/sound the alarm.” It is what we might call an intense word. Not only that, it is a word that we’d think might be much more at home on the football field than in a church worship session.

Cleveland was alive with joy, shouting intensely in triumph last Thursday because they were winners for the first time in two years.  As children of God, we are winners every day. We won the ultimate battle when we gave our lives to the Master of our soul, Christ Jesus our Lord.  That “Let us … shout joyfully” should ring out in every church, every time we meet.

Today and next Sunday we will be studying Psalm 95 in church. This song is the introduction to a series of songs, Psalms 95-100, that center on the worship of God. Listen to the way each begins:

Psalm 95: Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.

Psalm 96: Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth.

Psalm 97: The LORD reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice.

Psalm 98: Sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things.

Psalm 99: The LORD reigns, let the nations tremble.

Psalm 100: Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.

Sensing a theme here?  Maybe we can sum it up in one sentence. Worship is centered on the Great LORD (YHWH) who reigns, not on man. This is central to our health as Christians and to our worship of God.

The church too often specializes in what God can do for us, rather than dwelling on our duty to God.  When we think God has not responded to our needs the way we think He should, we become frustrated. Sometimes we get angry and simply walk away.  Or we stay, but our worship is affected by our viewpoint of how we relate to Him.

This is how we relate to our Great God:  He reigns. He is the Creator and the Center of all things. He is the LORD, YHWH, the Rock of our salvation. We serve Him. He doesn’t serve us. Everything we receive from His hand is given by His grace. To that, we must always bow our knee in worship and thanksgiving.

David was perhaps his very lowest when he penned Psalm 51. He had committed adultery with Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba, and then when he found out she was pregnant from their union, he had Uriah placed in the heat of a battle so that he would be killed. Thinking he had hidden his sin, he took Bathsheba as his wife. But sin never remains hidden and David’s found him out. Nathan, the prophet, brought God’s word to David and it was not a good word. The sword (turmoil) would become a staple of David’s family and the child conceived in adultery would die. God did not take David’s life; he would live amid the destruction brought by his sin. [1 Samuel 11-12]

It was at this lowest point of David’s life that he cried out for mercy from God in Psalm 51. David recognized that his sin was not just against Uriah, it was against the God who had been so faithful to him, who had blessed him abundantly and would have given him even more had he but asked.

The verses in Psalm 51 that always gets to me are verses 10-11, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.” 

David recognized two things. First, he saw that his heart had become tainted, blackened by sin that had weakened his fervent spirit for God. No longer was he steadfast in following after God. He asked for God to create a clean, pure, heart within him, knowing that was something only God could do.

Second, David recognized that he was in a dangerous spot. If he persisted in his sin, he would find himself removed from the very presence of the God he loved so much. He was in danger of going through the rest of his life without the Holy Spirit of God leading and guiding.

Sin, if ignored, will flourish. It will stain our heart, our entire life, and move us far away from the presence of the LORD. “Create in me a pure heart, O God!

If you have spent any time at all in the Book of Psalms, you will have noticed how often the psalmists prayed.  Consistently there are cries for the LORD to hear their prayers, listen to their prayers, and respond to their prayers.  We read, let my prayers come before you, listen to my cry, I cry for help, in the morning my prayer comes to you. The psalms are cries of the heart uttered by people in desperate situations, people who were stressed, oppressed, afflicted, and torn asunder, often by their own guilt.

One such cry comes from David’s heart in Ps 143:1: “LORD, hear my prayer. In your faithfulness listen to my plea, and in your righteousness answer me.”   [Christian Standard Bible]

I have spent August and September in the Book of Psalms. If I’ve come away with anything during this time it is a realization of the neediness of mankind and that the faithfulness and righteousness of the LORD responds to that neediness.

We pray out of our needs, whatever they may be. As the psalmists, our prayers take many forms. We request, we urge, we call out our enemies, we plead, we long, sometimes asking for what is right and sometimes not. But it is God’s faithfulness and righteousness that forms His responses. I believe the LORD filters our prayers through His Holiness, His faithfulness and His righteousness. He responds out of His love for us and for all His creation.

We may not always pray rightly, but God always responds correctly. We may not always understand, but we can trust that His responses will be true to His nature and for our eternal good.

Florence. The Hurricane. The images of her devastation have flooded the news. We’ve seen the massive rescue operations by both first responders and citizens who arrived simply to help others. Perhaps no image was so profound as the picture of the firemen in Wilmington, North Carolina, who fought to get to a family when a massive tree crushed their home. They were able to rescue the father but were unable to save the mother and an infant. The look on their faces as they exited the house made me want to reach out and gather them all in my arms as they grieved. Soon, with all the world watching, these firemen did gather together as they knelt and prayed.

We count the cost of these disasters by tallying the number of the dead or the amount of the property damage. The toll on the survivors, however, is immense.  This father that was rescued, the firefighters who witnessed the mother and infant who perished, will remember for the rest of their lives.

Disasters make us realize that it is not our politics or opinions that matter. Elections, sports, stock market ups and downs, do not count in times like this. What is important is our humanity, our compassion one for another. Brotherly love and kindness rise above our petty differences. They flourish briefly after every disaster, whether natural like Hurricane Florence or made-made as 9/11. But unfortunately, this atmosphere does not become permanent. Before too long we are back to our old ways.

The Scriptures have a lot to say about compassion and kindness and love. There are even special directions for those who claim a relationship with Christ Jesus. We would do well to remember them, not just when disasters abound, but all the time.

 “As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” [Col 3:12-14]

Last year we bought a glass storm door for our front entry. We wanted a solid glass door that securely locked, so we could open the wood door when someone knocked without allowing entry.  One of the unexpected benefits turned out to be the warmth coming through that door in winter. The winter sun hits the front side of the house and the glass door acts like a magnifying glass for the heat. Our front room with the high ceiling has always been the hardest to heat in winter, but since we installed the storm door, it is now the coziest.

One other benefit is that my chair faces that door and when it is open it is as if the outside is inside. Saturday morning as I sat studying and writing, I watched the sky lighten and the neighborhood awaken. I watched people drive by in their cars, early morning runners, and the dogs leading owners down the sidewalk. I love watching. I can sit in a mall, airport, restaurant, doctor’s office, coffee shop and just watch.

God is so creative. People are beautiful, different colors and shapes. The little and big dogs walking by are all different, even if they are the same breed. The leaves on the trees are just beginning to turn all shades of reds, yellows and oranges. I have a couple purple petunias that are hanging on to branches that are shriveling and growing sparse. Every moment some sight or sound grabs my attention.

Solomon, the Preacher, noted that “[God] has made everything beautiful in its time.”  We usually miss all that beauty because we are so busy doing that we don’t take the time to just be still and observe. We fill every waking moment when we should reserve some of those moments to simply be. We even feel guilty when we stop and just sit for a while. (It must be that old Puritan/Protestant work ethic!)     [Eccl 3:11]

Saturday, I spent the morning being still. I watched God’s creation awaken and I thought about the beauty He has given us. My soul was refreshed.

In His Time:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wo-rGzx2OZk

I woke up Saturday with a backache. It was the kind of backache where any movement caused a lot of pain. Of course, as soon as I let Miss Molly out of the laundry room (where she sleeps at night), she wanted her treats and her milk. She expects both as soon as she wakes up and will walk around vocally demanding that I get it for her. She will barely wait until I get the coffee started. Saturday morning was a challenge. Treats in hand. Bowl of milk on the table. Now how to bend down and put them on her placemat on the floor and then get back up again!

I did it, but it sure wasn’t easy. Then I went scrounging for the ice pack and hopefully some relief. Pain. It debilitates, motivates, reminds, crushes, and warns. When physical pain hits, we search for relief in medications, therapy, treatments. When emotional pain arises, we often act out.

Saturday as I sat with my ice pack and hoped for relief, I thought about spiritual pain. Where do we find relief from spiritual pain? David dealt with that issue in Psalm 38.  “For my iniquities have flooded over my head; they are a burden too heavy for me to bear.”  [Christian Standard Bible v 4]

David’s distress in Psalm 38 is difficult to read … difficult because we have all been there. We’ve been consumed by the consequences of wrong actions. We’ve sorrowed over the pain we caused others and ourselves. We’ve at times felt like everyone saw the blackness in our own hearts and set themselves against us. Yet David, even during that distress, knew the solution to his pain. “I put my hope in You, LORD; You will answer, Lord my God.” [v 15]

The ice pack and maybe some heat will probably relieve my back pain.  In August, 1973, Christ Jesus the Lord relieved my pain of soul and spirit. He “hurried to help me” when I turned to Him in my distress.  [v 22]

We are entering my favorite time of the year.  Next Sunday is the autumnal equinox. There are two equinox each year. One in September and the other in March.  This is when the sun shines directly on the equator and the length of day and night is nearly equal. Autumn begins this year on Sunday the 23^rd.

Autumn is my absolutely favorite season. Maybe that’s because I was born back east, in Pennsylvania. I grew up with the fragrances of fall. We played in the fallen leaf piles and I still recognize that aroma. The trees in fall in the east are magnificent with color. I remember once flying into Pittsburgh in the fall and seeing the blazing colors for miles and miles as we made our approach. People come from all over to see the fall foliage in the east.  I wish I could see it one more time.

I love autumn for other reasons as well. The cooler days always appeal to me (not a fan of summer). The shorter days appeal to me also (hate going to bed at 10 PM with the sun still shining in the window!). And, of course, autumn signals the approach of the holiday season, Thanksgiving through Christmas.

I know consumerism has tried to stretch the holiday season. In the stores it now begins in August! And they have tried to include Halloween (a big money-maker). But in my heart, the true holiday season begins with Thanksgiving.

That is when our hearts are reminded once again to be grateful.  It is often when we begin to count our blessings, and of course, we celebrate the coming of the greatest blessing of all in the birth of Jesus.  As Christians, that gratefulness and thanksgiving should be ours every day. And it is, but it’s still nice to be reminded at Thanksgiving of the goodness of our God.

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.” [Psalm 100:4]

“Why?” That is one of the most powerful questions ever asked. And it is asked all the time. I started thinking about the “Why?” question when I saw a recent advertisement for a book that is supposed to, if not answer that question, at least point us in the direction of settling it.  The theme of the book is “Why did God let that happen.” Why indeed.

I thought I’d check out “why” in my concordances. In the New King James, there are 430 “why” questions, and 550 in the New International. The first “why” question is God asking Cain, “Why are you angry?” The last “why” question is asked of John by the angel in Revelations, “Why are you astonished?”  [Genesis 4:6, Rev 17:7]

While those are the first and the last, there are plenty more “why” questions in between. Perhaps the most profound was uttered by Jesus on the cross when He used David’s words from Psalm 22:1: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

David’s full statement reads, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?” [NIV]

As a pastor and hospice chaplain, I’ve heard that “why?” question many times over the years. I’ve come to understand that in this life, we will never have an answer that we can completely understand or completely accept. “Why?” is as often a simple cry of pain as it is a question that we think someone other than God can answer to our satisfaction.

“Why?” I don’t know. But I know God loves me, He is for me, and He will one day bring me home to Him. I can leave “Why? for now in His hands.

I was studying for last Wednesday’s Bible Study in the Book of Judges. Yes, we are doing a Bible Study in Judges, specifically because the times we are living in now resemble that book’s message. The key verse in Judges is 21:25: “In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did that which was right in his own eyes”

That certainly sounds like us, no right or wrong, every person a judge of his own actions.  But that wasn’t where I was heading with this devotion today. It was another thought, and another verse from another book that initially grabbed my attention as I studied.  “If God be for us, who can be against us?”

Paul asked that question in Romans 8:31. It is a profound question, one that I think we ask and answer many times in our lifetime.  Just when I think I have that question settled, something comes along and I end up asking it again. The sickness, poverty, and violence I see around me drive me to that question. I see others struggling with circumstances and trials, opposition and persecution and I ask that question. I face my own struggles and once again that question arises.

Yet, each time I ask that question, I get the same answer. I hear the sweet Holy Spirit speak to me in His still small voice, “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for [you], how shall He not with Him also freely give [you] all things?” [Rom 8:32 NKJV]

As the Spirit reminds me, my question is no longer a question. Instead it is my statement of faith, “Since God is for me, who/what can be against me!” Thank you, Lord.