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THE CHOICE IS YOURS…Psalm 65

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It’s a beautiful morning here in Lacey, Washington.  I’m out on our patio enjoying the view of our backyard flowers, the bird-feeders filled with hummingbirds, towhees and gold finches!  Behind our wooden fence are large evergreens which reach high into the lovely deep blue and cloudless sky above.  The grass is green with the smell of fresh bark in the air.

Here’s where a choice comes into the picture in our modern world.  And it’s a big one.  I don’t care what kind of media–all would rather see this world through eyes that leave creator God out of the picture entirely.  Not even an issue except with mocking derision at those who would dare to see more than meets the eye, that have the nerve and temerity to see a creator where there is the creation.  It’s a choice to make in this life.  God or none. Theism or a-theism.

Not just any god.  I’m talking about the God of the Bible.  Father, Son and Holy Spirit. What do you see when you look around?  Can your eyes not see the obvious that where there is a creation there must be a creator?  Depth beyond, behind and beneath the surface?

Along with the psalmist here in Psalm 65,  let’s pause to praise the wonderful and creative hand of God everywhere we can see…and wonder at it!   Aren’t you tired of a society that scorns the Lord?  I am.  Thoroughly and completely.  How refreshing to read this psalm and hear King David say– ‘Praise is due to you, O God…the one who by his strength established the mountains, being girded with might; who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of the waves…You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy…'(Psalm 65: 1,6-8).  Keep reading on to the end of the psalm and have your spirits lifted in praise and thanksgiving to our Blessed God, the Creator and Sustainer of All.

Look around, thanking God for His mighty and creative power.  For the beauty of it all.  The majesty and wildness of His creation.  The predictable and the unpredictable.  For the fun of living,  knowing that this is but a prelude to what He has for us with Him in heaven forever.  Wow!  Filled with the presence of God (and none of those infernal detractors). That’s something to look forward to.  No, not something.  Everything!

Prayer:  Lord, we pause to wonder at everything your hand has made.  All from you.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

LET ME BRAG ABOUT MY HERITAGE!…Psalm 61

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Trust me, I have nothing to brag about!  Heritage… of what?   My Roget’s Thesaurus lists these synonyms:  heredity, patrocliny(from the father),  matrocliny(guess from whom!?), gene factor, Weismann theory (probably put forth by some wisenheimer!),  and ancestors. What is your heritage?  Possibly Downton Abbey?  Mine is decidedly downtown Jersey City, New Jersey!

Your forebears came to the new world with the pilgrims on the Mayflower?  We moved to a new town using a Mayflower truck!  My patrocliny is probably some panic spells when I have clogged ears.  My matrocliny is an inherited sarcastic sense of humor.  Inheritance?  A few shekels… but nothing that put me in a higher tax bracket!   Inherited rank and prestige?  Military service to our great country?

Wait a minute.  I may have something there.  My grandfather Fischer was a civilian painter, painting barracks at Bergen Point, Long Island,  during  the Spanish-American War.  Pretty impressive, huh?   That even got me a 10% military discount at the outlet mall clothing store!  A heritage of service to our country!  My father, during World War 2, went to the basement of our Jersey City home and shovelled ash for the coal furnace to bring on a severe asthma attack before going to the Army induction office.  4-F, for sure!

Spend a moment if you would meditating on Psalm 61:5.  Soak in those words from the Word of God.   They speak of my heritage…and yours as well– ‘For you have heard my vows, O God;  you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.’  We have a heritage, even when we thought we had none.  The heritage of all who worship the Lord. Of all who bow the knee in humble submission to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  All of us…together are the heritage of the Lord!

Nothing we ever did to achieve it.  Nothing at all.  The verse says that God has ‘given’ us that heritage.  A gift.  Something offered to us by God Himself.  His heart is for everyone to receive this gift. His open hand offering us freely what cost Him everything.   We can’t work for it.  No.  ‘Jesus Paid It All’, just as the old hymn says.  When He said  ‘it is finished’,  He meant it.   He did for us what we could never do for ourselves.  Forget about trying to earn your salvation.  Won’t work.  He’s done it all.

Get it?  Please do…And enjoy the heritage GIVEN to us by God Himself.  Enjoy His growing family!  He cared to send the very best. He sent His only Son.  Brag about our heritage?  Brag about Jesus, the inheritance that’s plain out-of-this-world!

Prayer:  Thank you Lord for the heritage of worshiping you.  We owe you so much.   In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

TOSSING AND TURNING… Psalm 56

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I don’t know exactly why, but I toss-and-turn a lot at night.  A good night’s sleep?  It’s been a long time since that’s been true for me.  My mother was the same way,  but she didn’t help herself.  She would listen to her favorite radio talk programs ’til the wee hours of the night.    My father…he could sleep through the loudest thunder-and-lightning storms!

Not to fret– God pays attention even to our tossing-and-turning on a restless night.  Psalm 56–‘You have kept count of my tossings,  put my tears in your bottle.  Are they not in your book?…In God…I shall not be afraid.  What can man do to me?'(Psalm 56: 8,10 ESV).

Our tears in a bottle.  Every sob and teardrop important to the Lord.  In Bible times, precious liquids (like wine,  water and milk), would be kept in leather bags to prevent evaporation, and also to make pouring from its small opening easy and efficient.  The image is clear.  Every tear we shed is kept close to God’s heart as if gathered and guarded in a leather pouch for scarce and precious liquid.

Then the psalmist refers to God keeping a book with everything about us in it.  Nothing is left out or overlooked.   The earliest human writing comes from the Sumerians over 5000 years ago.  Their content had to do with financial transactions, political and religious issues.  But God’s book contains things much more personal.   David’s tossings, his wanderings, tears and troubles are all there in His care.

Not just David’s– yours and mine as well.  David trusts God, gets close to Him, using His personal name of  ‘Yahweh’.  David affirms his faith in God’s Word.  Reminding himself who and what he can trust in.  The LORD…God’s every Word.

Notice that David never refers to having faith in a specific answer to his prayers.  He doesn’t trust God only when He performs certain things for him.  No, he trusts God regardless of the outcome.  I’ve known some people who lost their faith in the Lord when what they prayed for didn’t come to pass in the time they expected or the way they wanted.  Like demanding, spoiled children.

That’s not trusting in the Lord.  That’s putting Him to the test.  Faith sees way beyond.  Don’t trust the outcome, trust the Lord.  He knows best.  Father knows best!   Jesus is praying for us( Romans 8:34).  The Holy Spirit also( Romans 8:26).

What a team we have on our side!  ‘This I know, that God is for me'(Psalm 56: 9).  Do you know that?  On a good day, I do.  But on those tough ones, well…

Let’s pray for each other.  To be strong.  To stand up when others stumble.  To be all that God wants us to be.  Pray for each other, joining with Jesus and the Holy Spirit.  Now, that’s what I call a team!

Prayer:  We do pray for each other… to be strong in you.  In Jesus, our Savior.  Amen.

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU TOSS OUT!….Psalm 50: 12-18

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Be careful what you toss out–may need it some day!  Many find it next to impossible to throw anything out.  You know who you are!  We lived in our previous home for twenty one years.  Raised most of our kids there.  Grandkids knew every nook-and-cranny, closet and crawl space.  Entertained lots of friends around our kitchen and dining room tables.   Worked hard on our home.  Mainly my wife Sue.

We lived in the midst of three towns that had many issues to contend with.  Yes, lots of wonderful people.  Had a super job there with a large investment firm.  Met and married my wonderful wife.  Served the Lord at the best little church any pastor ever served.

Struggling towns economically with way too much abuse of all kinds.  This was telling.  No hiding it.  Our downtown appeared as a town on the way down.  Nevertheless,  it was hard to leave our home and hometown.  But we did.  Now we closer to all our children and those precious grands!

We had to let things go–to Habitat for Humanity, the Salvation Army, friends, family… and the monthly garbage can.  Our old house had too many storage spaces.  We used every one.  Our new home has a lot less space,  so we had to ‘lighten the load’.   And we did.

But remember, be careful what you cast aside as you may need it some day.  Psalm 50: 17– ‘For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you’.  Casting God’s Word aside as if an old collection of myths and fairy tales.  Not any of that.  It’s God’s Word from start to finish, Genesis to Revelation.

True then…true now.  The world, our nation, and even some Church denominations are casting aside the Word of God.  Outmoded.  Out of date.  Don’t believe it for one second.  My old denomination changed the rules over 80 years ago–the rule being the inerrant, infallible measure of our faith, the Bible.  But then, to be modern and ‘with it’, they loosed the ties that bind to the truth of God, which has led that church body to be increasingly insignificant,  suffering decreasing membership with local churches leaving in droves.  The ones remaining barely survive. Why, they ask?

They have no idea.  It’s not that hard to figure out, if you really want to know.  It has to do with what they’ve cast aside.  Psalm 50:17-18–‘For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you.  If you see a thief, you are pleased with him,  and you keep company with adulterers.’  They have cast aside God’s moral law allowing and even celebrating what God had forbidden.  Sound like today?  We dare not cast aside the Word of God.  Some will make fun, even mock.  So be it.  Never cast aside the Word of God.  Never.

Prayer:  Thank you, God,  for Your Word.  True, perfect, nourishing and good.  We stand on your Word.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

KEEP YOUR EYES FOCUSED… Psalm 54

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For many years now, the church I serve as pastor emeritus ends its weekly worship service with all singing these hymn words–‘ turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face,  and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.’  What better way to conclude a worship service!

Look to Jesus.  He’s wonderful to see.  Troubles of this world grow small and appear strangely dim when we focus on His glory and His grace.   A benediction in song, week-by-week.  However, not shared by those lamented in Psalm 54: 3– ‘For strangers have risen against me; ruthless men seek my life; they do not set God before themselves.’  Strangers, unwelcome visitors all.  Not with a common faith in the Lord.  People unconvinced and destructive.  Will tear us down.  Ruthless– willing to do almost anything to get their way.  Robbers of life, joy and goodness.  Literally,  in the Hebrew– ‘who do not set God before them’.   No turning their eyes on Jesus.  No looking full in His wonderful face.  How about us?

Stop looking all over the place; here, there and who-knows-where.  Stay focused.  Concentrate.  We used to go camping with some of our children.  I liked camping even though it didn’t seem like it at the time.  It was hard.  Our daughter kept crying that her backpack was too heavy, so I’d have to carry it part of the way.  Setting up the tent, getting firewood, trying to ‘bean’ raccoons as they would steal my after-dinner pretzels!   The drinking water had a rather bad effect on my system, which left me trying to find suitable burying areas not close to our camping site, getting there in the nick-of-time, if you know what I mean!

So special being out in the forest, alongside the Pacific Ocean.  Loved it.  Sort of.  At night we’d tell stories,  some better than others. We’d always play a little game called ‘I Spy’ where we’d concentrate on something that the others would try to guess.  ‘I spy with  my little eye…’ and off went the guessing.

Don’t be like the folks in Psalm 54: 3 who don’t pay any attention to God.  They toss Him aside.  Ignore Him.  Make believe He doesn’t exist.  No. Put Him front-and-center in your life.  When your concentration flags, don’t worry.  Shake yourself.  Look straight ahead.  Turn your eyes upon Jesus…look full in His wonderful face.  You’ll notice that the things of this crazy world will grow dim and small in a strange and wonderful way when we see His glory and His grace.  How’s your vision these days?

Prayer:  Oh Lord, help us to look Your way, to follow in Your footsteps.  In Jesus’ name. Amen.

TALK ABOUT A PLAIN AND SIMPLE WITNESS…Acts 27: 13-26

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‘Sharing is caring’, our granddaughter has learned in school.  Not being selfish, keeping the best news in this world to ourselves.  Someone bothered to share Jesus with me… and you.  Some make sharing our faith a very complicated experience.  Make sure they know every detail of the faith.  Pass some theological test to receive salvation.  No easy-believism.  Of course, that’s right.

Faith not just a nod of the head or saying some rote words.  Commitment is a promise to keep.  But in the beginning I think it’s more about intent than content.  When I accepted the Lord into my life as a teenager, all I knew was that God loved me;  and if asked,  He would come into my life.  Plain and simple.  To me, earth-shattering.   I knew  I didn’t deserve His love and forgiveness.  I felt bad enough.  I couldn’t have told you any more than that, plain and simple.  If given a test, ‘F’ was not for Fischer but for failure…to know very much about the faith I now embraced.

The content of the Bible came later… and is still coming.  Content is great,  but in the beginning is the intent to be a follower of the Lord.  That’s not always easy.  I like to lead.  Be in charge.  Set the tone.  Follow me… instead.

Not with the Lord.  He’s not looking for more leaders, but more followers.  That content is gradually (though incompletely) my intent as well.  Be a good follower of Jesus.  Learn all you can from Him and His Word.  Give Him the lead.

That’s why I love the plain and simple witness of the Apostle Paul on a distressed ship at sea found in Acts 27.  My wife and I have been at sea during some rather big storms.  Cruise ships with stabilizers still rock-and-roll if the waves are big enough.  When the sea-sick bags show up on all the railings, it’s time to head back to our stateroom!

In Acts 27, Luke records a devastating storm at sea that will have catastrophic effect on cargo and ship.  But not the crew and passengers…for the Lord has told Paul through angelic messenger– ‘…this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship… take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told…'(Acts 27: 23, 25).  That’s Paul’s witness.  Plain and simple.

Those who believed in Jesus, as Paul did, learned later all that that entailed.  The intent was to seek help from the Lord.  The content of the Word of God comes later.  The one will lead to the other.  Different pace for different folk.  Be patient.  Share the Gospel…and  your faith, plain and simple.  Let the Holy Spirit work the rest…Amen?

Prayer:  Lord, we need Holy Spirit guidance and understanding to be all you want us to be.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

NOT THOSE 7 LAST WORDS OF JESUS…John 1: 35-42

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It was probably 35 years ago now that a series of articles I had written was accepted by a devotional magazine.  The topic was this– the first recorded words of Jesus in the Gospels.  Many times during Lent,  we hear messages on the Seven Last Words.   I wrote about His first words.  Something different.  A new angle.

Never did finish that series.  Never submitted,  never published.  Still have the drafts along with the original carbon paper that I used to make copies for myself! That was a long time ago.  I’d still like to write those devotionals.  How about we just spend a little time now looking at a few of Jesus’ first words in the Gospel of John?

John 1: 38–‘What do you want?’  That’s a strange question to ask someone.  Isn’t it?  I’d feel defensive having to come up with a really good reason or two.  Maybe that’s the point.  Jesus makes those two disciples of John the Baptist really dig deep to find why they want to get to know Him.  What they really want from Him.

Must ask myself the same question.  On any given day it could be something different.  Jesus asks: ‘what do you want’?   Go ahead–think out loud.  Don’t candy-coat.  Be honest and open.

When I first became a believer in Jesus, I had no idea what He could do for me.  Or what He wanted from me.  No idea.  I was lonely.  Afraid of what was ahead.  What I wanted of Jesus was for Him to be close to me.  To never leave me… in the dark.   That’s all.

It was later that I started adding all the selfish-sounding stuff… for this, for that and some of those over there while you’re at it!  I should have stayed where I was at the beginning of my Christian life.  Just wanting Him.  Nothing more or less.

Jesus with me sounded pretty good to someone who had no idea that God even cared.  Those two followers of John the Baptist give a murky answer to Jesus’ question, wondering where He’s staying for the night.  Jesus says to them–‘Come…and you will see'(verse 39).  No direct answer.  Nothing definite.   Merely an invitation to get with Him and get ready for the experience of a lifetime.

If you want to know Jesus, tell Him that.  And then wait and watch.  He’ll be found…He’s not far from any one of us( Acts 17:27).  You’ll find Him if you really want Him.  ‘What do you want?’  is still His question for us today.  And your answer?

Prayer:  Lord, we need you.  We want to be close to you and have you close to us.  In Jesus, Your only Son.  Amen.

NO U-HAULS ON THE WAY TO THE CEMETERY!…Psalm 49

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Guess you haven’t seen one either.  What is it?  A U-Haul trailer hooked up to the back of a hearse on the way to the cemetery!  Can’t take it with you, as we all know.  But do we? Seems to me that we all hold onto things with a tight grip.  My money…my house…my car…!  You name it,  it’s mine!

I remember hearing the story of a Texan with gobs of money, who died, and left instructions that he was to be buried lashed to the steering wheel of his old 1957 Cadillac. This old car even had bull horns soldered to the front as hood ornaments.  And there he was, the old guy,  wearing a 10-gallon hat, a string cowboy tie, and alligator boots strapped to the peddles.  As this ridiculous rig was being lowered into the ground, someone was heard to say, ‘Man, that’s living!’   Really?  Supposedly the senior John D. Rockefeller’s accountant was asked how much the multi-millionaire left when he died.  He was the richest man in the world in the 1930’s.  How much did he leave?  The accountant said that Rockefeller left it all,  every last dime!  Took nothing with him.  So will we.

Psalm 49:16- 17–‘Be not afraid when a man becomes rich…For when he dies he will carry nothing away;  his glory will not go down after him.’  In verse 20–‘Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish.’   Not only do they leave all behind, but if ‘without understanding’, without a relationship with the Lord, it gets even worse.

For believers, the worst day we’ll ever have in this world, is the worst day we’ll ever have.  Verse 15–‘But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me.’  Ransomed by the blood of Jesus, you are received safe and sound into God’s family.   To be ransomed is to be bought out of slavery.  In this case, as slaves to sin.  Sinful people cannot redeem themselves from their own sin.  Only the Son of God can,  who gave Himself as a ransom for our sins(see Mark 10:45).

I love that word ‘receive’–‘for He will receive me'(verse 15).  Not only do I receive the Lord Jesus into my heart,  but God Himself receives me into His presence.  What an honor!   No more sorrows, no more parting.  No more pain or suffering.   None of that… ever again.  His promises and His presence–those you will take to the grave and beyond…

Prayer:  Thank you, Jesus, for coming to this earth.  We honor you and love you, now and forever.  Amen.

PUTTING THE GEAR IN DRIVE…Psalm 45

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Driving in England,  we rented a Vauxhall Astra that had a left-hand gear shift with six forward gears. Six?  I couldn’t believe it.  And I had to master it the moment we got into the car!  One gear for reverse with six forward.  Take the hint!   Rarely in reverse, keep going and getting ahead.

Like the large windshield in front, seeing what’s ahead.  Small side and rearview mirrors to briefly check what’s beside and behind us.  A sudden glance with most of the time looking forward.

Psalm 45: 16–looking ahead.  Generations pointing forward and not in reverse.  ‘In place of your fathers shall be your sons.’  I am very aware that my sons need to put all their energy forward to their children.  Love goes forward in six gears with just a smidgen in reverse.  What makes me happy is when I see our children caring for theirs.  Love moves forward and needs to.

Respect and honor for parents.  That would be nice.  Sometimes we’ll need their extra helping hand.  As the psalmist says:  ‘your sons will take the place of your fathers;  you will make them princes throughout the land.  I will perpetuate your memory through all generations; therefore the nations will praise you for ever and ever’ (Psalm 45: 16-17).  The psalmist is referring to Israel’s king and successors.

I couldn’t help but sense the Lord’s gentle nudge.  Encourage your sons and daughters. Love them.  Love their spouses and their children.  Pray for them often.  Be there for them, but don’t smother them or weigh them down.  Use the forward gears.  As the Apostle Paul said, ‘…But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,  I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus'(Philippians 3: 13-14).

Maybe this has sparked a thought in your mind.  You need to shift into the gears of love, encouragement, concern, forgiveness, patience along with lots of prayer.  No children?  Pour out your love to any and all you really care about.

Think about it.  If you’ve been taking too much, demanding too much, unforgiving and bitter, ask the Lord to show you how to let go, getting out of reverse, shifting into those  forward gears!

Prayer:  Thank you, Lord, for all your love and care.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

SHARING THE FAITH…. Judges 2: 1-10

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How quickly the next generation turned their backs on the Lord.   Judges 2: 10–‘And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel’.  One generation away and God was pushed out of their lives. Believing parents?  I suppose.   For some reason, they didn’t share their faith.  How could that be?

In my own life, complacency has robbed me of the urgency to share the Lord.  I came to know Jesus listening to Billy Graham on the radio.  I was turning the dial and something caught my ear. Heard the Gospel for the very first time.  I responded by asking Jesus into my life.

I had been a church-goer, sort of.  Once in a blue moon.  Not really a high priority for my family except for some distant cousins.  Were good people…just not interested in the things of the Lord!  The morning after accepting the Lord, I started reading a ‘mint condition’ Bible I was given in 3rd grade.  Getting into the things of God and they into me.

Wait a minute.  The Bible I had was mailed to me from the church where I had been baptized as an infant.  Someone, I forget the name now, had given money for a perpetual fund that would give every baby baptized in that church their own Bible when they reached the age of eight.  Whoever that was wanted the next generation to know the Lord and His Word.

Give you an idea about passing on the faith?  Not exactly in that way?   Find another.  Do something to make sure that your family knows about how you came to find Jesus and all that He’s done in  your life.  I love to give money for evangelism with children…’pass it on’!  Monies for Christian radio.  That’s how Jesus found me.  What ideas do you have?  Think about it.  Keep doing what you’re doing…but more so.

That’s right–do more.  Don’t talk about doing it… do it!  Share your story.  We know the Lord wants us to ‘pass it on’.  Not me alone.  ‘…that you may tell the next generation that this is God,  our God forever and ever.  He will guide us forever’ (Psalm 48: 13-14).  ‘Pass It On’!

Prayer:  Lord, we ask, on bended knee, for the salvation of each one in our families, neighborhoods and country.  In His name.  Amen.