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A LACK OF FAITH…Judges 6

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Insecurity dogged me as a new believer.  Seeking some sign from God.  Never sure what He wanted me to do.  Decisions agonized over, unlike when I was not a Christian.  Was easier before conversion,  not worrying about God.  Now, indecisiveness worsened.  I truly wanted to follow the Lord’s lead.  What gives?  Doesn’t sound right, does it?

Judges 6 contains the story of Gideon.  Hardly a fearless leader.  Lots of questions and doubts of his own.  His faith in the God of Israel rather weak.  Even blames God for deserting His people in the face of relentless enemies.  Makes lots of excuses.  Even tests God with those fleeces of his.  Fleeces that question what God has already told him.  Not faith in action, but indecision and uncertainty.

I was not much different than Gideon.  We were confused ‘brothers’, not knowing who to trust, even the Lord.  Now as I look back, I cut myself some slack.  Being young has its insecurities.  Nature of that stage in our lives.  As we grow, hit some ‘speed bumps’ of disturbing times, we see God at work in ways we never expected.  We can trust Him more.  Don’t need all the answers to our infernal questions.  Leaving it with the Lord makes much more sense.  A bit long in the tooth now, I can grasp this more.  Not tight but holding onto His hands with all the strength I can muster.  I may be weak, but He remains strong.

Never been a fan of Gideon.  For his lack of faith, as I see it.  Now, I give him a break for he is listed in the ‘Hall of Faith’ of Hebrews 11.  Thankfully, the Lord doesn’t hold our weak faith against us.  Rather, He gently, but firmly, prods us to keep growing,  keep maturing in Jesus.  Press forward to gain more of His wisdom.  Want to join me?  After all, couldn’t your faith need a bit more of the same?

 

Prayer:  Thank you, Lord, for not giving up on us.  Grow us as men and women of maturing faith in your Son Jesus.  In His name.  Amen.

A TEAR-DOWN TOWN…Psalm 49

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My favorite town in my home state of New Jersey is down the shore at Ocean City!  Since 1959, I’ve vacationed there always with great anticipation before going and with deep regret when heading over the bridge, away from Ocean City into Somers Point, heading home.  Lots of good Bible-believing churches, a dry town keeping the bar scene far away, but home values very pricey making most of us unable to buy one even if we wanted to.  Just glad to be able to rent a condo for a few weeks most years.

My wife and I have noticed that homes can be very expendable in this little barrier island town.  On a recent visit, a nice home across the street from where we rented, and another down the block were demolished, with debris carted away all in a matter of an eight hour shift.  Morning–nice home.  By dinner, a vacant lot ready for a new duplex.  Now the rental income can double with mega-property taxes flowing full-bore into the city coffers, making way for even more vacationers who are sardine-canned onto this tiny island for those ten busy summer weeks.  We always go off-season!  Much nicer.  Much!

Ocean City’s cute Victorian cottages are going, going… almost gone!  With no end in sight.  One day we were driving by a teardown in progress, and could see the demolished living room with a bookcase full of books still in place.  Not for long.  But no one had bothered to remove the books.  Give them to the local library or nursing home or the used bookstore or to anyone.  No thought.  Tear down.  Toss out.  Disposable society.

Do we have too much?  Riches receive our supreme devotion?  Idolatry of the almighty dollar?  Psalm 49–  ‘…those who trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches…'(v. 6).  And– ‘This is the fate of those who trust in themselves, and of their followers, who approve their sayings(v. 13).   Read further–‘…for he will take nothing with him when he dies'(v. 17) and ‘…he will join the generation…who never see the light of life'(v.19).  Riches and things.  Could we be barking up the wrong tree?

If not riches, then what?  ‘But God will redeem my life from the grave; He will surely take me to Himself'(v.15).   Wealthy or poor,  our riches are to be in God’s love and forgiveness, His grace and mercy.  In Him alone.  Mansions… over the hilltop.  Not a tear-down among them!  The books will be opened.  Our dwelling place secure as only heaven can be!

Prayer:  Thank you, Lord, for making us heaven-bound through your Son Jesus.  In His name.  Amen.

A CONCERT OF PRAYER…Daniel Chapter 2

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Daniel and his three friends have had their names changed from godly ones to those of false gods.  All four of them had been given Hebrew names with God Himself woven into their very fabric.  Daniel means ‘God is my Judge’.  Mishael– ‘who is like God?’  Hananiah– ‘Yahweh shows grace’.   Azariah– ‘Yahweh helps’.  Now, new names have been shoved down their throats.  A bitter pill not willingly swallowed.

In Daniel chapter 2 we read that the King had a terrible night’s sleep.  What sleep?  Tossed and turned.  Kept waking because of the most disturbing dreams.  So realistic.  So shocking.  Calling for his Wise Men, he threatens them with death if they can’t tell him of his dreams and their meaning.  Death to all!  The gallows await.  When Daniel hears of this, as he and his friends are also Wise Men, he asks the King for a bit more time.  Probably skeptical, yet the King relents for Daniel.

What does Daniel do now?  Take out a double-indemnity life insurance policy?  Flee the country?  Start a revolution?  No.  You’ve read the story.  In verse 17 he returns to his house.  He goes home where he can talk privately with his three friends.  The names used here in verse 17?  Not those pagan names.  Not those for sure.  But rather the names honoring their One True God, Yahweh.

Daniel calls them to a concert of prayer.  Praying together harmoniously.  Begging the Lord for His mercy.  His help and protection.  Not for them alone,  but for all the Wise Men.  First things first– pray.  Who better to go to?  Ever catch yourself saying ‘well, I’ve tried everything else, might as well pray.  Can’t hurt.’  Be honest now.  I’m in that boat, sorry to say.  ‘When all else fails, pray’.

Not Daniel.  Not his three friends.  Not us as well?  Not any longer?  Go to God first and foremost.  Tell Him all that’s on your heart and mind.  Be in concert of prayer with your family and friends.  Pray for others.  Life them up to the Lord.  Have them pray for you.  A harmony of prayer.  A glorious concert with the Lord as our audience.  Amen?

Prayer:  Lord, we gladly come to you in prayer for others and ourselves.  Our country and this world.  Thank you for the ministry of intercession given to each one of us.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

NEVER GOOD AT MATH!…Romans 6: 11-14

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The Apostle Paul says that believers are to ‘…count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus(Romans 6: 11).  I was never very good at math, but I know what Paul means.  ‘Count yourselves…’   Consider and contemplate what we know to be true when we face fears and the unknown.   We’re dead to sin, alive to God in Christ.  Add that up.

I was thinking of my father, gone many years now.  He was a good guy.  People liked my Dad.  Rarely heard him badmouth someone.  He was a hard-working house painter, who lugged ladders around well into his late 60’s.  Fell off roofs a few times, breaking a leg or two.  Daily smoked a couple packs of Chesterfield cigarettes at a time when doctors thought smoking was good for the asthma that plagued him.   Also weighed down with fears and unfulfilled dreams.  Growing up, I heard all about those dreams of his.  But he was too afraid.  Change came with too high a price for my Dad.  He liked his routine.  Maybe his dreams were enough for him?  Maybe.

What about us?  What do we do with dreams and fears?  When God puts something new and exciting in our lives, Satan, using our insecurities, chokes out many of those godly blessings in a paralyzing spasm of apprehension and fright.  Who doesn’t face uncertainties daily?  That’s when we need to ‘count ourselves’ alive in Jesus!

That’s right!  We are not the sum total of our fears but the grand total of new life in Christ.  Focus on what we know is true, from the Bible, from God Himself.  Not on the insecurities of life.  That takes a conscious decision.  Doesn’t come easy.  Not much effort to sit around, biting our fingernails, afraid to open the front door.  ‘Count yourselves…alive to God in Christ…’  Can we do that?  Paul says we can.

When fears inevitably hit us, consider what we know in Christ.   ‘Count your many blessings, name them one by one…’  The more we count them, the less room there will be for those pesky fears and worries.  You can count on that!

Prayer:  Thank you, Lord, that we can always count on you.  We consider your love such a blessing to us.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

PREPARING FOR YOUR FINALS!…Romans 7:24-25

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I noticed a church sign that read– ‘We Help You Prepare for Your Finals!’  Laughed out loud as I always do with clever church signs.  This was one of them!  Obviously, not referring to high school or college finals.  We know which final they’re talking about!  The longer I’m in this world, the more I long for God’s Kingdom.  Do I hear an ‘amen’?

But what about those days, weeks and months leading up to our finals?  Not something we like to dwell on.  I remember in seminary at Princeton, that they invited Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, author of ‘On Death and Dying’, to speak to the seminary community.  She had written of five psychological steps involved in the dying process.  She said that many people go through stages of denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.  Five stages.  Sometimes they are reversed, even in a different order.   At the time,  it seemed like she spoke the definitive word on the subject.

As important as her work was, something absolutely critical was left out.  What could that be?  You’ve probably guessed it.  The rescue stage.  The most important stage.  Where death does not utter the final word.   As St. Paul writes in Romans 7: 24–‘What a wretched man I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death?’  Who?  Who will rescue us?

Verse 25 says, ‘Thanks be to God–through Jesus Christ our Lord!’   The rescue stage!  Jesus, our Rescuer!  Dr. Kubler-Ross was a soft-spoken, articulate Swiss woman, who I don’t remember mentioning God or faith in Jesus.  Even then, as a young man, I knew something was missing.  The emptiness of this approach could be felt with the lack of rescue.  Jumping off into the unknown felt dangerous and very scary.  Going there with Jesus holding my hand gives comfort and confidence.

Preparing for your finals?  Don’t worry.  Jesus has already taken them for us.  Grade?  A++!  Death has flunked its final, once for all.  All our sins forgiven!   We’re heaven bound!  Jesus took our finals for us.  Jesus never fails.  Never!

Prayer:  Thank you, Lord, for being with us right to the end of our lives when the great adventure begins!   In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

 

WHAT’S IN A NAME…Daniel Chapter 1

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In Shakespeare’s play,  Juliet asks:  ‘what’s in a name?’  She continues by saying that a rose by any other name would smell the same.  How true!  We also know that ‘sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me’!  Not true!  When I was attending elementary school, we had all kinds of nicknames for each other.  Some not so enviable!  Like ‘Goofy’ or ‘Wacky’, or ‘Hunker’ (as I was called).  I was chunky then…and more so now!  I didn’t like that name.  Felt ashamed of myself.  Still remember those bad feelings decades and decades later as if thrown at me yesterday.  Names not hurting?  Who are they kidding.  Bones can heal.  Name-calling leaves bitter scars.  You remember some?

Wonder how Daniel and his three friends felt when they were given different names.  In Daniel 1, we discover that these special men were taken into exile in foreign Babylon.  Involuntarily given names that no longer give praise to Yahweh God, but ones that honor the false gods of Bel, Marduk, Aku, and Nego.  These four were forced to break God’s commandment to have no other gods before Him.  This was not their choice.  Was imposed on them.

No longer simply giving praise to Yahweh God by their name alone.  Broke these men’s hearts.  At this time, in our society, it’s obvious that to name the name of Jesus, will cause us trouble.  Scorned, laughed at…condemned.  Name-calling like ‘bigot’, ‘intolerant’, ‘narrow-minded’.  What are we to do?  Give in and fit in?  I know you better than that!

Daniel 1: 8– ‘But Daniel resolved not to…’  That word ‘resolved’ in the original Hebrew means to be determined, committed in heart and mind, to not give in.  Hard to control societal pressures.  Probably can’t at all.  But we can, inside ourselves, resolve to remember all that the Lord has done for us, all that He is in Himself.  That God calls us by new godly names.  He calls us His friends(John 15:15).  His chosen ones(Deuteronomy 7:6).

I won’t be chunky forever for I am chosen of the Lord!  His good names for us will last into eternity.  ‘There IS a new name written down in glory and it’s mine’… and yours too!

Prayer:  It is so good of you, dear Lord, to give us new names in Jesus your Son.  We stand with Him no matter what.  Amen.

WHAT COULD BE BETTER?…Psalm 63

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I don’t like to think about all that I’ve lost over the years.  Time…money…opportunity.  Friends and even family.   Lost and gone forever.  Can’t get them back.  Part of me grieves with another side saying to move on.  Some find that easier to do than others.  I hold on way too long.  Know that about myself.

Think it must be an insecurity that rears its ugly head.  I remember a friend, a Roman Catholic priest, who shared that he didn’t have long for this world due to cancer.  Such upsetting news to me.  A dear friend who I enjoyed sharing our weekly luncheon times, those ‘immovable feasts’ of pizza!  He scolded me, reminding me that the Lord would never leave me.  Didn’t I trust Him?  Didn’t I?  Felt embarrassed.  He hit a raw nerve.  When he died what he had said to me proved true.  Of course, the Lord was with me.  Of course, I was not alone.  Of course.

God will never leave us.  We know that we can’t see Him.  So what?  Can’t see the air, but I haven’t stopped breathing either!  Whether we admit or not, we live by faith!  Yes, we do.  That my heart keeps beating.  When I plug the electric chord in, power is released.  When I sit on that chair, the floor will not be my seat!  Whether we admit it or not, we live by faith!

Here’s a good idea!  Put your faith… in Jesus.  When this life is over, as it will be for all of us, we’ll have Jesus with us, and us with Him.  What could be better?  Nothing!  You can’t think of anything and neither can I.  With Jesus comes all the love in the universe.  All wrapped up as His gift of Himself to us.  What could be better?  Psalm 63:3–‘…your love is better than life…’   Of course it is!

Prayer:  Lord, we can lose everything, even our lives, and still have you.  Of course, we’ll always have you.  Thank you.  In Jesus’  name.  Amen.

 

I’M IN GOOD HANDS…Psalm 69

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Being away from home for over three months leaves us feeling overwhelmed when we return.   You can imagine.   There is a price for being away.  And prices keep rising!  One time we awoke the next morning to a leaky toilet requiring a costly plumber visit.  In our pile of mail were two identical cable television kits, prompting a visit downtown so we weren’t charged twice.  While trimming an overgrown hedge, I discovered to my unwelcome surprise a hive of yellow jackets, causing me to run like I was in the Olympics!

What should I do?  Stay in bed all day?  Draw the curtains and let the world take care of itself?  Withdraw from this cold, cruel world?!  Then I read Psalm 69, especially verses 13 and 14.

King David says, ‘…in the time of your favor…’  There’s a phrase to mull over for awhile.  We who believe in Jesus Christ are ‘in the time of God’s favor’.  The word ‘favor’ in the original Hebrew is ‘rawtsone’.  It means delight and goodwill.  We are God’s good pleasure.  He accepts us who worship Him.  We are pleasing to Him.  He approves of us.  Treats us favorably.  As in Psalm 147:11–‘the Lord delights in those who fear Him, who put their hope in His unfailing love.’

He loves us so much.  He’s crazy about us!  This very moment we are ‘in the time of God’s favor’.  That means that I’m in good hands.  So are you as you trust in Jesus.  Good hands.  I can trust Him no matter what.  With those little things like leaky toilets and stinging bees.  I’m still in good hands.

Today keep repeating that you are in good hands.  When something upsetting comes your way, remind yourself whose hands you’re in.  In His strong and loving arms and hands.  I’m in good hands!

Prayer:  To be in your hands gives me such confidence and hope, dear Lord.  I love you for all you do for all of us.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

 

SILENCE!…Psalm 62

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My tongue should be covered with scars.  From all the times I bit it, keeping quiet.  Now you know why it’s scar-free!  Wish I knew better how to keep silence!  David pens in Psalm 62–‘For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from Him'(v.5).

Haven’t you wondered how Jesus kept His silence at trials before His crucifixion?  Sometimes, not a word.  Why?  What’s going on?  Something for me to learn?

When I think of silence, I think of how we may treat other people.  The silent treatment, it’s called.  A form of punishment.  Or someone may keep quiet because they didn’t hear you, possibly ignoring what you’re saying.  A neglectful punishment.  Not what’s mentioned here in Psalm 62.

David faces many challenges.  Enemies.  Attacks.  He seeks to remain silent so he can lean hard on God.  Like a ‘tottering fence’, he says(v.3).  By shutting his mouth, his mind can open to the strength he knows is in God alone.  His rock, his salvation, ‘my fortress'(v.2).  Keeping quiet focuses our hearts on trusting the power and love, a perfect union,  found in God(vs.11-12).

Here’s a challenge for today.  For you…and me.  Be quiet.  Calm down.  Lower the volume on the noise level of your life.  As best you can.  I know how difficult this can be.  It must be possible.  The psalmist says so.  It’s in the Bible.  Jesus practiced it.  If I can, you can.  We’ll find strength and trust.  A place to stand… next to the Lord.  Where better?  None that I know of.  Silence is golden, it’s said.  Let’s mine some today!

Prayer:  Thank you, Lord, that in the most noisy times we can experience your peace and quiet.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

SUCH A BIG DEAL!…Psalm 50

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Do you think that God expects too much of you?  All those commandments.  Do this…don’t do that.  Watch your step.  Easy to fall through the cracks.  I become discouraged when I realize all the godly expectations that I fall short of.  Not even close.  Have to be honest in saying how little of the Lord I see in myself even after being a Christian for a long time.  No, I am not Methusaleh!

Reading Psalm 50, two verses tug at my heart.  Encouraging words…about a simple life of faith.  Life that’s more about a relationship with the Lord than measuring how we’re doing on the performance scale.  Verse 14–‘Sacrifice thank offerings to God…’  Saying ‘thank you’.  Too much to ask of us?  Not such a big deal!

Being grateful to God.  Being content with what we have and where we are in life.  Not passive or lazy, but mature and secure in contentment.  Ambitious without being narcissistically aggressive.  Thanksgiving Day… every day.  Doing all we say we’re going to do–‘…fulfilling your vows to the Most High'(v. 14).

How many times do we thank the Lord for this-or-that during our day?   I lag behind, not being grateful enough.  Should come natural.  Almost without effort.  I eat three meals a day.  Breathe all the time without even thinking about it.  My heart has beat for decades now and can go on for up to three more, if I’m like my Uncle Harold or Aunt Margaret.

So much to be thankful for.  Such a big deal?  Don’t think so.  You might wonder if you but count how many times in our day we pause to say ‘thank you, Lord’.  Should we start thanking Him right now?  Let’s do it!  You and me, together.  What a good idea–thanks!

Prayer:  We bring the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to you, our Lord.  For all you are and all you do for us.  Most of all, we thank you for your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ.  In His name.  Amen.