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SLIGHTLY TWISTED! WHO ME? Lamentations 3: 21-26

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If you’ve only read a few of my weekly devotionals, possibly you’ve wondered about my mental health!  These writings may not be the staid and stuffy one’s you’re used to.  Even though life overflows with pandemic fears, political conflicts and serious moral failures, my peripheral vision somehow captures a somewhat humorous angle, though slightly twisted.  Maybe I should be more serious.  Perhaps.  After all, what’s found here in the Old Testament book of Lamentations is hardly a laughing matter.  Not in the least.

The prophet Jeremiah likely pens this lament.  It’s a sorrowful tale about Jerusalem’s destruction.  Tragedy hangs out on every corner.  Violence rushes down streets like Spanish Pamplona bulls.  Tears flood lanes and alleys.  Ruination rules day and night.  As I said, no laughing matter.

Yet, in its midst come these comforting words–“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.  ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him'” (Lam. 3: 22-24).

God’s great love…unfailing compassion…daily newness…extraordinary faithfulness.  All together giving us His hope.  When the sky is falling, we need an encouraging word or two or three.  These are them!

Mental health, sprinkled with a random chuckle, pays rich dividends by adding capital to our fragile emotions.  Yet such sturdiness barely happens on its own.  No kidding, more is needed.  And we know whose helping hand reaches out to us.

Grab hold.  Mull over His promises, putting them front and center.  Help has arrived!  For the Lord stays close by.  No matter what comes our way, good, bad or indifferent, Jesus travels right beside us, His hand in ours.

Do I hear a hearty laugh of joy at that thought?  Yes!  And an old-fashioned ‘amen’ to boot!

 

Thank you, Jesus, for always helping me.  Amen.

DON’T IDLE ALONG Psalm 135

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I’ve never been one to sit back watching life pass me by, slipping and sliding through my fingers.  Goes faster than greased lightning.  I don’t need to remind you that the Lord has work for us to do.  So, don’t idle along!

Psalm 135 warns against idols.  I realize I’m shifting gears here.  Idle to idol.  But hear me out.  This psalm red flags idols and those absorbed in them.  It’s true that we don’t live in a culture where carved figurines receive much worship.  On the contrary, our society wants no god of any sort.  Banished.  Given the old heave-ho, including the bum’s rush.

However, in Old Testament times idols are everywhere.  Even in the holy city of Jerusalem.  Could hardly get around without bumping into pagan shrines.  Aren’t you glad we’re not like them?  Idol worshippers.

No, we’re among the smarty-pants.  Whiz kids and know-it-alls.  Our idols are computers and algorithms, profit and loss statements, political shenanigans coupled with never-ending greed.  Everyone bent over, bowing down to their smart phones.  Things which, sooner or later, will go out of fashion, become obsolete or break to smithereens .

Psalm 135:15-18–‘The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.  They have mouths, but cannot speak; eyes, but they cannot see; they have ears, but cannot hear; nor is there breath in their mouths.  Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.’

Sounds wise not to get wrapped up in filthy lucre, or go ego-tripping on one’s high horse.  We’ll wind up becoming empty, useless, lifeless, not worth a plug nickel.  Idols that idle away precious life, missing the bus to serve in Jesus’ Kingdom.

So, don’t idle along getting along too well with modern day idols!  Get busy for Jesus.  There’s so much to do.  So much you can do.  Whatever that is, do it for Jesus.  Any ideas?  Then start…now!

Stop idling along!

 

 

Thank you, Jesus, for making life special.  Amen.

THE EYES HAVE IT Psalm 119

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More than 30 years ago, I note some blurring in my eyesight.  When I close one eye, no problem.  But the other contains a gray, cloudy spot.  What gives?  Of course, I panic.  Fear I’m going blind.  Or worse, a brain tumor.  Not long for this world.

Visiting a local eye doctor, he categorizes my ailment as ‘macular degeneration’ for insurance purposes.  Looking up that condition in my handy-dandy hypochondriac’s ‘Medical Guide for Idiots’, I realize that a seeing eye dog is just around the corner.  That’s great, since I’m highly allergic to dog dander!  As it turns out, I don’t have macular whatever.  But this big eye medico’s insurance form shortcut causes me considerable stress and strain.  His two cents’ worth quacks like a duck!

Next I make an appointment with a retinal specialist.  Upon examination he wants to know if I’m a welder.  A what?  A welder?  I can hardly maneuver a hammer let alone an acetylene torch.

His conclusion is that I have a leakage in one eye that will either get worse or clear up on its own.  Not to panic.  If needed, he’ll help with laser treatments.  Fortunately or not, I’ve experienced no change.  Decades later–none better, none worse.

I’ve adjusted to it, rarely even thinking about it.  Using both eyes, they compensate for one being partially blurry.  Both together give me rather clear vision.

That’s how the Bible works for those of us who believe in Jesus.  One eye alone, focused exclusively on this world, blurs and distorts.  Life’s meaning tilts out-of-whack, not sure exactly what we’re seeing.  Confusion more than clarity.

Using both eyes, so to speak, as in also reading the Bible, digging deeper within on a regular basis (sorry, once in a blue moon doesn’t cut it!), digesting what it says, allowing trust to grow in our Lord, while becoming obedient to His will, gives understanding as plain as the nose on my face.

Psalm 119:18–‘Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.’  And Psalm 119:105–‘Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.’  Let His light shine.  There’s plenty more where that came from.

 

Thank you, Jesus, for your Word that lights my way.  Amen.

MORE AND MORE 1 Thessalonians 4

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Almost two decades after retiring as a financial planner, I still thumb through a daily financial newspaper.  It covers more than money issues, but that’s its primary focus.  Reading story after story about corporations and small businesses, I’m not amazed at the obsession to make more and more money, quarter by quarter, year after year, or else get clobbered by the markets.

My wife and I chuckle over the poor outfit that only makes a gazillion more bucks this year than last when so-called experts predict  $1.012 gazillion.  Down plummets the stock.  Its Board of Directors headhunts a new CEO.  More and more moolah is the perpetual monkey on their backs.

Such is the world.  But there’s something different for believers.   For we can feel Jesus nudging us closer to Himself, loosening the poisonous grip of greed.  1 Thessalonians 4:1–‘…we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more.’  There it is.  Pleasing God, more and more, becomes our goal in life.  More and more… of Jesus.

The specifics of how this works out in your life and mine varies greatly.  None two the same.  But to please God…more and more…is where it’s at.  Not only on certain holidays or the odd Sunday, weather permitting; but consistently ‘more and more’, no matter what.

That’s tricky.  How to do this without being obsessive, tying ourselves up in legalism or ritual.  More like wanting to rather than having to.  An eager willingness.

Like I know how all this works out in my life.  I’ve got it down pat.  Not quite!  Not even close.  I struggle as much as any one else.  However, I know the target.  I know where to aim.  You do, too.  So do your best to live for Jesus… more and more.  To know His love… more and more.  His forgiveness and kindness… more and more.  And then?  Well, how about some more!

 

Lord Jesus, I need you most of all.  Amen.

THOSE LITTLE THINGS James 3: 1-12

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It’s life’s little things that trip us up.  The forgotten birthday or anniversary.  That ‘thank you’ never spoken.  Silence when encouragement is called for.  A dime-sized foot sore which prevents a beginner’s walk up the trails of Mt. Rainier.  Nine people hell-bent to give me the old heave-ho out of a church of 600.  Doesn’t take a lot to alter the course of life.  I know.  It’s those little things.

Jesus’ half-brother James says as much when he refers to a large ship, caught in fierce winds, yet maneuvered by a small rudder in the aft.  Or a powerful horse, which is no match for a tiny mouth bit forcing Trigger to go wherever you want.

Little things carry much potential.  For good…or bad.  That’s where James gets personal.  Poking in where he doesn’t belong?  None of his beeswax?  Possibly I’m being a tad defensive, fearing he’s pointing his finger directly at me!  It’s not my heart he worries about here, it’s my big mouth.

What I say can be kind and caring.  However, in the next breath, my words cut, zing and maim.  All from a few insensitive words blabbered off my glib tongue.  Thought I was being funny.  Not!  I know what I’m talking about.  Just me?

James 3: 6–‘The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body.  It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.’  Fire…evil…corruption…hell.  This is serious stuff.

Guess I’d better watch what I say.  Clam up a bit more.  Yap less.  Prayerfully increase the use of my mouth’s rudder and bit, asking for the Lord’s help.  On my own, forget it!

Again, just me?

 

Lord Jesus, help me to be more careful and sensitive.  Amen.

CUT THE CORD! Psalm 129

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I dread February when I have to negotiate a better deal with our cable TV outfit for the next twelve months.  Dread an understatement.  I get hot flashes and jitters, accompanied by cold shivers.  Last year the best I can drag out of them is no additional gouging!

This time it all falls apart.  Price way up.  Sky high.  The channels we regularly watch you can count on one hand.  Some negotiator I am.  Those greedy so-and-so’s aren’t going to budge.  But there’s more to this story!

Here’s what.  We vacation on Canada’s beautiful Vancouver Island.  The waterfront condo we rent has a channel with all British programs, our favorite shows, and with no commercials.  Really?  I ponder.  An idea blossoms.

Cut the cord!  Sever them from our bedraggled, downtrodden checking account.  So, slashed and dissevered go our coaxial twisted wires.  Not as easy as they make it sound.  But I prevail.  Let the streaming begin!  And we’re the richer for it…every month.

What could be better?  You know.  Here’s Psalm 129:4–‘But the Lord is righteous; he has cut me free from the cords of the wicked.’  The psalmist groans that he’s being treated harshly for way too long (v.2).  Handled worse than dirt.  As if a plow repeatedly etches furrows up and down his back (v.3).  We thought we had it rough.

But now the psalmist points to his sole source of hope.  Of course, to our righteous Lord.  We may be surrounded by a bunch of slimebucket hooligans, who maltreat us as their daily entertainment, yet we have One who is right as right can be, who gladly cuts those cords.  Evil will eventually fly away like a helium balloon, which slips through your fingers.  Up, up and away…forever gone!

Our sins, likewise, have their cords cut.  Good riddance.  Adios.  Auf wiedersehen.  Arrivederci.  Toodleoo, cheerio and rice krispies!  Sin’s swan song hummed one last time by God’s forgiven chosen.

We’re free.  To live richly… for Jesus.  What could be better?  Nothing in this world.  For He cuts those nasty cords!

 

Thank you, Jesus, for life lived for you.  Amen.

CALM, COOL AND COLLECTED Daniel 2

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President Eisenhower spoke these wise words–‘the important is seldom urgent and the urgent is seldom important.’  This maxim, the Eisenhower Decision Principle, helps people focus on long-term goals, ignoring what needs to be ignored.  How often I’ve fretted over something that never happened.  Or when it did, the outcome was better than I feared.  So much wasted energy.  And I don’t possess a huge stamina-reserve to fritter away!

Daniel is certainly up against it.  A ‘wise man’ trainee, who’s been forcibly abducted from his homeland in Israel to ungodly Babylon.  Now all the high mucky-muck ‘wise men’ fail King Nebuchadnezzar by flubbing his demand to recount his nightmare dream-details and interpretation, meaning it’s literally lights-out for all including Daniel and his three friends.  Unless.  Now he faces the urgent and the important!

What does Daniel do?  Tell you what I’d do.  Pack my bags, escaping on some hush-hush camel train.  Cash out my investments, turning shekels into gold bars, fleeing under the cover of darkness.  Craft a nifty disguise as a female jockey.  Whatever it takes to save my hide!

Not Daniel.  Beginning at chapter 2, we see him approaching the King asking for extra time, hoping to return with some answers.  Holds out for a breather.  Takes a step back.  Why?  Daniel gathers his three friends asking them to pray to God for mercy and insight into what troubles the king.  Pray!  Not just to save themselves, but the lives of all the king’s ‘wise men’ (v.18).  Prayers are offered–important and urgent pleas.

Answers come from the Lord.  The exact right ones, of course!  Verses 20-23 overflow with Daniel’s praise to God for all His help–‘To you, O God…I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what was asked of you, for you have made known to us the king’s matter’ (Dan. 2:23).

Is it too demanding and exhausting to lift our voices in prayer to Jesus?  And to ask a few trusted Christian friends to join in?  Answers will come.  When?  I don’t know.  In what form?  Not a clue.  Who can we trust?  That I know…and so do you.  Our great God–Father, Son, and Holy Spirit!

Good reminder on this our country’s 4th of July!  That trust business, I mean.  ‘In God… we trust.’  Agreed?

 

Thank you, Lord, for helping us when we need it most.  Amen.

 

 

 

QUITE THE DIFFERENCE Psalm 123

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You’ve heard it said that youth is wasted on the young.  Squandered and down the tube.  Only them?  Can hear my Grandfather Fischer saying– ‘you’re smart like your father, you dope you!’  Rocket science riddles my DNA!

Reflecting on my early bird church ministries, I admit the following–too young, too immature, too self-centered.  Can you imagine?  Better not.  What’s best is a resolve never, ever to be that way again.  Too smart, too late?

Early career centers on a church membership number’s game–large…larger…largest!  I’m at the helm, of course, with most of the work done by underlings; likewise, of course!  I’m riding my high horse, too big for my you-know-what.  Hey, it feels good to confess.  Especially to the Lord.  As if He doesn’t already know?

When I receive my final church call, it’s truly miraculous.  For years I’d pray for that church as I exercise walking by it.  Then I’m asked to fill in for two summer Sundays, only to discover that they want me full-time.  Really?  Me?  Must have passed the test with flying colors.  Or they’re totally desperate!

Mostly, I feel a tug from the Holy Spirit to do whatever the Lord wants me to do.  For Jesus, first of all.  Then to find the lost, pointing them to the Savior.  For all of us to know Him better.  To push out the church walls, so to speak, supporting mission work way beyond our four walls.  To stay as long as He wants me to, along with the congregation’s glad nod.

My overall task?  To love Jesus and His people from a heart of service.  Feel the difference?  I’m glad the Lord allowed me to sink deep down in a churchy swamp.  For He pulls me out, and places me on dry land.  Just like for Jonah and that big fish.  I used to be the big Fisch!  No longer.

As it says in Psalm 123:1-2(NIV)–‘I lift up my eyes to you…to the Lord our God…’  In Hebrew language, the word order is different.  It reads literally–‘To you I lift up my eyes…’  Who’s numero uno?  Top of the list?  You know.  ‘To you…’–the Lord!

When we focus on Him, first and foremost, the world looks different.  You’ve noticed?  We can even bear bad breaks, knowing that Jesus makes all things better and for His own good (Romans 8:28).

Maybe this message isn’t only for me.  Someone else needs to take note.  Is that you?  Get off yourself and…well, you know!  Don’t you?

 

Thank you, Jesus, for being our Lord forever.  Amen.

WHOSE PERFECT LOVE? 1 John 4: 7-21

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Searching for a new family practice doctor proves stressful.  Getting an initial appointment seems like asking for a miracle.  Takes months before new appointments can even be scheduled due to you-know-what that we’ve all been trying to live with.  I don’t even want to name it as I’m sick to death of it, figuratively speaking, thank the Lord.

Two months ago, calling the recommended clinic phone number at 7:30am, not my best time of day, I almost beg for an appointment, knowing there’s no way I’m getting one.  Not with that certain physician I prefer.

Remember about that miracle?  Well, it happens!  The Lord opens a door for me even with my faith being almost nil.  Yes, I get that appointment.  And it’s months off so I can relax a bit.  Ahh!

Until the day arrives.  Mask on, looking like the Lone Ranger, off I go about a mile away to the medical building where my new doc works.

Frazzled nerves an understatement.  Not his, mine!  What if I can’t stand him?  Or he’s pushy, wanting me to undergo immediate myriad procedures, seemingly funding his early retirement.  Tests and more tests.  Med’s galore.  All with my back to the wall.

I’m sitting in a tiny cubicle awaiting either Drs. Kevorkian, Jekyll or Frankenstein.  At that moment, a Bible verse pops into my fear-riddled mind–‘Perfect love casts out fear’ (1 John 4: 18).  Where did that come from?  You know and so do I.  From the Lord.

Hearing my anxious cries, He responds.  A word so gentle I wonder if I’ve made it up.  But I haven’t.  Unfortunately, however, I must admit that my love is far from perfect.  More like puny and dinky.

What I sense is nothing audible or scrawled upon the clinic walls.  No visions or signs.  Just a mellow whisper reminding me who’s love is perfect.  Hardly mine.  It’s Jesus’ love that’s coming my way.  And it’s mighty perfect!

Looking up I notice a crucifix above the doorway.  But it differs from usual ones.   Jesus has His hands raised in triumph as if ready to fly off the cross straight up to heaven!  I’m in a Roman Catholic hospital network that hasn’t forgotten the Great Physician, who I’m also seeing this day.

Here’s His message–it’s not your love that matters so much.  Not at this moment.  It’s His perfect love…for me and you.  Need some?  Who doesn’t?  Jesus’ perfect love helps wipe away jittery, shivery-quivery worries, along with weak-kneed butterflies that drive us up a wall…right to Him!

I’ll admit it.  I’m made of clay and dust.  But Jesus?  No way.  He’s perfect in every way!  Amen?

PS–I really like my new doctor.  So far, at least!

 

Thank you, Jesus, for being with us in scary places and times.  Amen.

COUNT MY LUCKY WHAT? Genesis 1

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A financial guru, referring to successes in the stock and bond markets (except for last Thursday!), urges us to ‘count our lucky stars’.  Do what?  Star-gazing seems more credible to moderns than praising you-know-who.  Better to grab hold of a ouija board?  Lady luck?  Check out your horoscope?  Your zodiac sign?  Karma chameleons!

I get so sick of it.  Don’t you?  How could Christians not?  Such an insult to God, the One and Only.  And rejection is everywhere.  Well, almost.  The Lord has His own to remind us who He is.  Has been.  Still is.  Always will be.  So, remember–don’t forget!

Hear the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah–“This is what the Lord Almighty says…’To whom can I speak and give warning?  Who will listen to me?  Their ears are closed so they cannot hear.  The word of the Lord is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it'” (Jer. 6: 10).  Words so old they’re new.

Certainly true of our society.  Might as well turn to tea leaves.  See what the Dalai Lama has to say.  Or the Buddha.  Or infallible science, which changes quicker than those chameleons.  Or to politics, which unites bringing such peace and harmony.  As in our backyard city of Seattle.  Yeah, right!

But, to be honest, we’ve fallen down on the job when the thought of spending quality and quantity time in the Bible is too much bother.  After all, I’ve got my own agenda to look after.  Do my own thing.  Look after number one…Me!

Where does all this lead to?  If not for God’s grace and mercy, I’d have been ditched decades ago.  But He saw me through.  He was faithful when I was not.  Just me?

My best times are when I’m in concert with Jesus.  Harmonizing with His ways.  Singing His tune and lyrics with Him as lead singer.  You too?

If not, here’s where to start.  Open your Bible.  Read a psalm or two each day, every day.  No speed reading.  Turn off phones, tablets, whatever.  How about daily pouring over a chapter in John’s Gospel?  Not for information.  But for you and Him.  From your loving heart to His.

Get closer to Jesus.  You know that you can count on Him.  So forget those lucky stars!

 

Lord, we want to be close to you.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.