Tag: daily devotional

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Things That Tick God Off

[The Lord Invites Israel to Turn Away from Sin ]

 “Wash yourselves!

Become clean!

 Get your evil deeds out of My sight.

Stop doing evil.

 Learn to do good.

Seek justice.

Arrest oppressors.

Defend orphans.

 Plead the case of widows.”  

Is 1:16-17

Wow!!  Although the note before these verses calls this an invitation, I read it as a strong challenge!  I think the Writer…the Lord (via Isaiah)…sounds pretty ticked!   There is strong emotion in his words.

He begins with the challenging list that speaks to the reader’s own personal condition…sin!  It’s a short list of heart issues…attitudes….things hidden in our own hearts, but blatently clear to God.  He hates sin.  It ruins us, ruins our relationship with Him, and wreaks havoc on the  people in our lives.

It’s as if God is taking our faces in His Hands….”Look at Me!  Listen!!”  These commands have to do with our own choices. . . things we need to do ourselves.  I hear passion and emotion in His heart towards this pointed list.

Then, there comes a short list of behaviors that should be outcomes of the work we need to do in our own hearts and attitudes.  They have been placed in a catagory that focuses on “others.”

Seek Justice:

  • Arrest oppressors
  • Defend Orphans
  • Plead the case of widows

Justice involves setting the “wrong”….right.   The three examples listed are such a common part of life in our world.  These are not descriptions of people in a certain part of a city, or some other country……they’re often right in our own neighborhoods and circles of relationship.

Arrest oppressors:   Oppression involves using power to push others down.  Vulernable people are easy to see.  And it’s a fair assumption that those in a position of greater strength or power in the life of “the weaker” have used that strength or power to push someone else down….or out.  Whether it’s a matter of oppressing someone’s  life circumstances, or their emotional vulnerability,  their financial poverty, physical or mental limitations, or tough circumstances of life that have put them in a place of weakness, the people who take advantage of that become “oppressors.”  The implication in this verse is that there may have even been illegal actions that have pushed those who are already “down” even further down.  Arresting means putting a stop to what is going on….perhaps even legally.   God’s heart is always soft towards those in vulnerable, weakened, broken conditions.  His Heart is for the humble….humbled.  Shouldn’t ours be as well?

 Defend orphans:  We do not have “orphanages” in our American world, but we still have orphans.  Broken families are everywhere.  Children abandoned by a parent, or parents, are often put into a legal system that allows for moving children from home to home.  Millions of children have lived with no sense of stability, safety, emotional attachment or commitment from either their birth parents nor the temporary care of others who may or may not have a love or commitment to the child in their care.   God’s Word often specifies His Heart for orphans….He

cares for them.  He sees them, and looks to us to get involved in such a way that we add to their sense of being safein this dangerous world.  The Bible often refers to God as “FATHER”

because we ALL need a father.

Plead the case of widows:   Widows in ancient times stood a good chance of losing everything if their husband died.  They became terribly vulnerable.  Having lost a husband, they also lost their sense of safety…protection…having that husband who had stood between them and the things of this world that would hurt them.  They had no voice.  They were “easy targets” for those who would use them for their own benefit.  Without the one who had been their protector, the widow now takes the brunt of what this world throws at women who have lost so much, on so many levels.  No matter how strong the widow, when the “two” becomes “one”, life is forever changed.  It is often still true today.  A wife who loses her husband experiences repercussions that continue for the rest of her life.

For God to name these two specific catagories of human reality through Isaiah, matters.  His Words are strong.  This isn’t a suggestion.  His challenge began with heart issues, but ended with practical action.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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CHILDLIKE

“Ask and you will receive.

Search and you will find.

Knock, and the door will be opened for you.

Everyone who asks will receive.

The one who searches will find,

And for the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”

Mtt.7:7-8

It helped me to rearrange the order of these six lines a little, connecting the lines that applied to each other….

“Ask and you will receive.

(Everyone who asks will receive.)

Search, and you will find.

(The one who searches will find,)

Knock, and the door will be opened for you.

(and for the one who knocks, the door will be opened.)”

Mtt.7:7-8

I love the way that each instruction that Jesus gave to us (bold lines above), was followed with the assurance of what God’s response would be.  The statement following each instruction puts more strength behind the words, and more clarity of what God will do in response to our ask…..our search….our knock.

What if I don’t ask?    What if I don’t search?   What if I never knock on that door?   God’s clear responses listed here are firm statements.  There is such reassurance concerning His reaction to our various human movements toward Him.  It’s childlike….simple….human….everyday kind of engagement with God.

I remember when I was about 3 years old, my mom was lying on the couch holding her hand over her ear.  She was in a lot of pain, and I had not seen her like that before.  I went close to her and asked why she was crying.  She said, “Oh!  Mommy’s ear hurts so much! . . . Would you pray for it?”    Without hesitation, I put my little hand on her ear and said, “Jesus, please make Mama’s ear stop hurting.”   I don’t think I even said, “Amen.”   Within a minute, my mom said, with dismay, “Honey!!  The pain is all gone!   It’s gone!”

I think we make our interactions with God far more complicated than necessary.  The Bible talks about childlike faith.  Children interact with Him with such simplicity….a purity of belief.  They have not yet learned to view life with mistrust.

May we learn from them…and give the children in our lives no reason to learn to distrust……

 

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Learning to Initiate

“Ask, and you will receive.

Search, and you will find.

Knock, and the door will be opened for you.

 Everyone who asks will receive.

The one who searches will find,

and for the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”    

Matt. 7:7-8

I am not an initiator.  Unfortunately, I have lived my life with an underlying sense of not wanting to “be a bother.”   I know I have missed out on a lot of life because of that underlying belief.

But this verse is one that gives me courage.  It challenges any thoughts of “being a bother” to God.  He challenges me….us…..to interact with Him with determination….by choice….by His Invitation.   I hear that Invitation in these Words.  ASK.  SEARCH.  KNOCK.   There’s no shadow of asking us to step into the background from Him.  No sense that He sees us as “a bother.”

I remember as a little girl, seeing things I would have liked, but my own insecurities held me back from asking and receiving.  I missed out on a lot because of that underlying fear of “bothering” anybody.

In the desert (my second family), it is not culturally common for people to “ask”….even tho’ as refugees, they have great needs.  It’s almost like a guessing game to catch the very tiny hints of the needs they keep hidden from guests and friends.  Yet, I think that most friends and guests would be very happy to be asked to step into their need.  So often those needs are hidden, and the opportunity to help is lost.

In this passage, God (Who knows EVERYTHING already) still encourages us to ASK….SEARCH…..KNOCK.  There’s something in our own hearts that causes us to hold back in our approach to the God Who created and loves us.  HE knows exactly what “that” is, and wants us to get past it.  Some wrong perception or belief about God Himself makes us hesitate or refuse to directly approach and interact with Him in honesty and confidence in His Love for us.

What is “that thing” in your heart?

God invites you to step past it, come to Him,

and ask, . . . search . . . and knock.    

He is patiently waiting.

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Watching the Hand

“Behold,

As the eyes of servants look unto

The hand of their masters,

So our eyes wait upon

The Lord our God.”

Ps .123:2

Have you ever been in a room with Royalty?   Or a high-level leader?  A respected person with power?   Familiar imagery  is that of the “Leader” or “Master” surrounded by other people who are there just to provide whatever may be requested by the most important one in the room.

I had never caught this detail before:  “…eyes…look to the hand of their master.”  It may be a slight movement that activates the response of the watching servant.  If the servant is not paying attention to his master’s hand, he loses trust of his master.  He/she is more preoccupied with other things going on in the room, or in his own mind.  The initial message is non-verbal…just a move of the hand.  It is wordless communication which has been learned through experience.

I imagine it requires great focus for a servant to keep his eyes on the hand of his Master.  He needs to be in the room.  He/she needs to block out all the distractions going on around him/her, though significant they may be.  When the hand moves, the response must come.  Focus on that hand could affect trust, necessary actions, relationship and confidence.    It means that everything else going on in the room becomes secondary.  Everything else in the life of that servant takes a step back from the priority of watching that hand and responding appropriately.

Whoever we are, if we have become servants to our Master, “the Lord our God”, we need to follow this example in the Psalms.    Am I available?  Am I paying attention?   Am I willing to respond?  What are my distractions?  What has my higher focus?  Are my eyes on Him to the point that I would even notice that His Hand has moved… signaling something to me without words?

His Hand carries deep scars.   For me.  For you.  Out of Love that is far beyond human capacity. If I focus on His Hand, whatever He does with it, it embodies the Greatest Love, and Highest Calling.

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Life Numbers

“Teach us

to number each of our days

so that we may grow in wisdom.”  

Psalm 90:12

Lists have become very important to me.  I forget things!   Rather than considering it part of aging, I prefer to think of it as my brain moving closer to its saturation point.  There’s just too much up there!!

So, lists have become a daily activity.  And I try to prioritize my lists. . . most important and time-sensitive are nearest the top.  Top priority is #1. Anything without a number just naturally slides down the list…to the side…perhaps is completely lost in the shuffle.  But I also tend to prioritize according to my own preferences, comfort level, and capabilities.

In this Psalm, we read this request for God’s help in prioritizing our time on this earth.  Prioritizing our days on this planet.  Each day matters to Him.  He said that He had numbered our days.  But in this verse, the writer asks for His help in learning how to number our own days.  Numbering forces us to consider one thing at a time.  We have to see each day as one, rather than a vague blur of days sliding into each other.

What priorities has God set for our days, and to what do we need to give our best energies?  His Perspective is all-knowing. . . beginning to end.  We only see “now”  and “past,” with only limited understanding of those days.

But God knows exactly how many days we have, and how He has woven our lives…our days…into His Plan.  His priorities for our time on this earth are most likely quite different from our perspective on our priorities.

To learn from Him what He prioritizes for how we live out our days will always be best.  Wisest.  Most useful to furthering His Purposes on this planet.  Each day at a time.  Rather than thinking of our lives in terms of life seasons, or years, or as one long blur of time, let’s think of LIFE as one day at a time, knowing that God not only gives us each day, but He has a Plan that includes us, each day at a time.  He has numbered our days.  May we look to Him for how to use each one.

 

 

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In the Garden

Sitting alone in a simple, humble garden, these words gently wafted into my mind . . . my heart.

His whisper came.  I was in a garden I had never visited before.  It was on the Mount of Olives, but hidden from the public eyes of the thousands of visitors who came to see and experience the area where Jesus would have spent time talking to His Father.  Behind an old wooden door and ancient rock wall, hidden from the eyes of the regular crowds, the humble gatekeeper had invited me in for a moment in time to simply take it in . . . and listen.  I perched on a large rock, taking note of the hard, broken, dry ground on which it sat . . . perhaps for a thousand years. Perhaps one He had touched.

My eye came to rest on some tiny little plants that had found spots of dirt in which to sink their tiny roots.  A fragile little white flower, some tiny yellow blossoms, and another small purple flower had bloomed amidst the rocky path along which I had found my momentary perch.  If I hadn’t been looking down, I would have never seen them.  So tiny, so intricate, so lovely and unexpected.

My downcast eyes focused on the fragile beauties, doing what they were created to do.

I knew that God was there, and that He had something to speak to my sad heart in this ancient, peaceful little garden.  I was listening . . .

“I know what it’s like to not want to go through something horrible . . . to be hit by it . . . rocked by it . . .  to have to feel, to have to hurt,  to have to know mental anguish, physical torment, emotional devastation…. To experience a sense of hopelessness. 

“But all of that was a temporary experience.   I carry the scars, and so will you.  But I had togo through it in order that what was to come could be accomplished.  “. . . For the Joy set before Me, I endured the cross . . .”

Joy was waiting.

What was it for Him?

~  Making forgiveness possible

~  Making Heaven accessible

~  Making Eternity in Heaven actual

~  Breaking the Power of the Evil One

~  Breaking the Power of Death

~  Making Satan powerless

~  Giving Hope to this hopeless world

What is the “Joy set before me?”

Where are my eyes?

As a child whose attention is so easily distracted, I hear His Voice,

“Look in My Eyes.”   

“Focus on Me.”

“Do what I’m telling you to do.”

“I Am with you….always!”

“Look in My Eyes.”

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Tents

“Now we know that

if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed,

we have a building from God,

an eternal house in heaven,

not built by human hands.”

2 Cor. 5:1

Tents are the homes of shepherds.  Made of woven goat hair, they repel water, yet allow the tent to “breathe” through its walls and roof.  Their “breathing” shade and shelter are perfect for herders, who must be on the move in their mission of finding good pasture for their herds.  They are designed to be mobile, and can  last a long, long time with proper care.  But they are also vulnerable.  (And smelly, if the goat’s hair fabric gets wet!)

I was in a family tent, enjoying a lunch with my desert family, when a sudden storm came.  Very rare. The wind was blowing in a circular way, and suddenly the entire tent began to lift up off of the ground.  All the men immediately ran to each corner and physically became “weights” to keep the tent from becoming airborne.  It was very scary for all of us!  I suddenly became aware of how vulnerable it was to live in a tent as a permanent home.

God’s promises to us concerning our physical “tent” – both our bodies and our houses – take on deeper meaning when we come face to face with their vulnerabilities.  Sickness, storms, the weakening that develops over time, all remind us of how vulnerable we really are.

What a wonderful comfort and reassurance we can draw knowing that God Himself has prepared our Forever Home, with  Him, in Heaven.  No storm, nor disaster, nor sickness or death will everbe part of what God has prepared for us after our time on this earth.

It will be absolutely perfect!

 

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“To” is Harder

“Mary said, ‘My soul praises the Lord’s greatness!

My spirit finds its joy in God, my Savior,

 because the Almighty has done great things tome.

His name is holy.’ ”

Luke 1:46-47

I never get tired of the Christmas Story, nor of spending time contemplating its innumerable facets.  I’ve heard the story read at Christmas time since my earliest memories.

Today, as I read this familiar passage, I was struck by a tiny word that wasn’t the familiar version I had memorized as a child.  The little word “to” caught my attention.  I had always known it to be “for” me.  Today, it was different  –  “…the Almighty has done great things to me.” A tiny word can make a lot of difference.

Mary’s entire world and life turned upside down when she accepted the role of being the mother of the Messiah.  Throughout the ages since then, Mary has been honored, praised, and beloved.  Her change in status throughout history has been uniquely honored.  This would be the aspect that comes to mind when I read “…the Almighty has done great things forme.” Which is absolutely true.

But, while the miracle was taking place inher, and all the days of her life following the birth of Jesus, God was doing great things to her.   He was literally changing her body, her heart, her family, her community, and her future.  Much of those changes were painful, unpopular, and challenging.

It is far easier to embrace what God does forus.  But it is much deeper, more intimate, scary and life-changing when we allow God to do what He wants to us.  It is much more risky to invite Him into my life.   It will change not only my present, but my future.  And those life-alterations are not in our control.

It all comes down to a matter of choice. . . the choice to trust Him with my life, no matter what.  Or will I hold onto my life as tightly as I can?   Will I desperately hold onto His Hand, do what is hard, painful, seemingly impossible….simply because He’s asked me to?   Or  not?

 

 

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What’s in a Name?

“So the Lord himself will give you this sign:

A virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son,

and she will name him Immanuel [God Is With Us].”

Isaiah 7:14

Try to imagine young Mary, a teenager, unmarried, having grown up under the powerful, evil rule of an occupying government, where every move you make is watched, controlled, and dictated by cruel men who have no tolerance for nor acknowledgement of the God of Israel.  Underneath that dangerous dynamic was the power of the Jewish religious leadership, whose authority dictated all daily life…especially the inner world of faith, attitudes, behaviors and connections with God.

Mary would have been taught the ancient Scripture prophecies about the Messiah Who was to come….the One who would save her people from thousands of years of suffering.

In a moment of her everyday life, she was transported into the ancient Story…the ancient Promise that they had all been longing for.

She would carry and give birth to that baby boy, “Immanuel.”  God is With Us.   God had set it up…every detail, and brought Mary into that world-changing story. God entrusted Himself in the most vulnerable form, into the arms of a young girl…  She would have to hold Him close to her heart from the moment He entered this world.

The angel instructed both Joseph and Mary, separately, to name her baby, “Jesus.” (Meaning: He Saves.”)  A far more common, unassuming, and simple name.  I wonder if that wasn’t a ‘mercy’ for that new family.  Can you imagine how complicated it would have been if the “official”  ‘Immanuel’ was the public name!   “God-with-us”, it’s time to eat!  God-with-us, where are you?  God-with-us, come help your father!”

Oh! How she would need to know that God was with her from that day on.  Every day.  Every time she spoke her tiny baby’s name…every time she called to him as he played or approached an everyday danger, or heard the cruel whispers of shame from her neighbors.

“God is with us.”

“God is with me.”

As we walk through these days remembering that moment in Time when God came to us in baby-form, may our hearts embrace God where He always intended to be….With Us.

With me.

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Unlikely Threat

“He [King Herod] called together all the chief priests and the experts in the Scriptures

 and tried to find out from them where the Messiah was supposed to be born.

They told him, ‘In Bethlehem in Judea.

The prophet wrote about this:

 ‘Bethlehem in the land of Judah,

you are by no means least among the leaders of Judah.

A leader will come from you.

He will shepherd My people Israel.’” 

Mtt.2:4-6  GW

Herod, an egocentric, scheming King calls on top religious leadership – ‘experts in the Scriptures’ – under the guise of wanting to worship the Messiah.  But his heart was focused on removing the Messiah’s perceived threat to the King’s position.

The religious leaders knew their Scriptures, and readily shared the ancient prophecy of where the Messiah would be born.  Religious top leaders, and now political top leadership knew where the Messiah would first touch the earth.  Bethlehem.  Considered to be least by the leaders of the land.”

In the midst of those top leaders, the ancient prophet’s words rang out.  “A LEADER will come from you (Bethlehem.)”   But not a political leader.  Not a wealthy leader.  Not a flashy or self-absorbed leader whose goals in life would be fame, wealth, or popularity.  This “leader” would be a shepherd.  The Shepherd of all shepherds, a drastically sharp contrast to the leaders hearing the words of that ancient prophecy.

A shepherd’s life included…

…no house to shelter him

                        …no pillow for his head each night

                        …no money to accumulate towards a better life

                        …long absences from a wife to care for him, love him,

                        …long separations from his children to snuggle every morning and night

                        …away for months at a time to provide good pasture for his flock

                        …no prospect of wealth, influence nor popularity

The ancient words spoke of a simple shepherd.  A Shepherd of God’s people, His “Sheep,” with all of the struggles and dangers of that humble shepherding life. A Protector, Leader, Provider, always “on call”, always watchful.  Always ready to use his simple tools – a staff, a rod – with the expertise of keeping at bay all of the dangers lurking in the shadows, watching for the opportunity to steal and devour a helpless lamb.  A Shepherd who could read the stars in the night sky to navigate the sense of direction he must have.  A Shepherd who understood the sweetness of a song in the silent night.

May this Christmas season find us sheltered under the loving care of our Good Shepherd.