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TIME TO REFLECT… Genesis 28: 10-17

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It’s time to reflect.  Where did this business of writing a devotional book begin?  We were driving across country after retiring from our church, when I felt a nudge from the Lord to do some writing for Him.  A devotional book?  I was doing Spring cleaning, preparing for other major changes in our lives.  I discovered a notebook in a bottom desk drawer.  This notebook contained some thoughts and ideas for articles I wanted to write.  This was from the time of my 2nd church, 1975 until 1980.  I had entitled the notebook ‘Reflections Out of Time’.  However, there were very few reflections in it.  In my 20’s and early 30’s, I had little to reflect upon!

But now, decades later, it’s time to reflect.  Time to look back… and forward on my life with the Lord.   I hope what I share is helpful, even timely for you.  But I leave myself an ‘out’,  and is why I also add–‘timely or otherwise’!  May or may not connect.  I hope my writing helps, but no guarantees!

Allow the Scriptures to hover over your life’s experiences.  Like a ladder between earth and heaven, with the angel of the Lord guiding and directing us.  As Jacob said in Genesis 28: 16–‘Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it’.

As I look back and reflect upon my life (warts and all), I can see the Lord’s good hand even when I didn’t have a clue that the Lord was even in the same neighborhood.  How about you?   Time to reflect on your life?  To see the ladder from heaven to earth in your journey?  Together we can say with Jacob– ‘How awesome is this place!  This is none other that the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven’ (Genesis 28: 17).

How awesome is my life in the Lord.  How wonderful to dwell in the house of the Lord,  now and forever.  How amazing to stand at His gate which is wide open ready to welcome us home,  all because of His Son Jesus Christ.  How great is our God!

How good to reflect on Him.  Amen?   Like a good mirror, we want to reflect Him so that others, who need Him, can see some of Him… in us.  That’s worth reflecting on.  Well, I’m out of time today. Reflections…out of time!  Hope this has been timely…or otherwise!

Prayer: Lord, thank you for the grace to look back and the joy of looking forward.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

THE NIGHT SKY SPEAKS… Psalm 19

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Had a hard night without a lot of sleep.  It would be the new moon this week–  when the moon offers very little light and the stars are magnificent.  I got up at an unknown hour,  and sat out on our lanai here in our rental condo on the Island of Kauai, Hawaii.  The stars were out tonight…the planets and Orion and the Big Dipper.

Psalm 19–‘The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork.  Day to day pours out speech,  and night to night reveals knowledge’ (Psalm 19: 1-2).  The heavens speak!  The night sky voices the glory of God!  The word ‘glory’ means weightiness and importance.   A week earlier, we heard,  on our car radio,  a scientist explaining some theories of the tides and gravitational pull of the moon and other aspects of what we know of as God’s creation.  Remarkable information.  Builds your faith. ‘…Pours out speech…reveals knowledge…'(Psalm 19: 2)–except when this same scientist tries to explain origins and how things  work without any reference to God at all.

Chance and luck were all he had to offer.  Explanations that took more faith to believe in than the truths of the Bible.  I’ve heard these scientific geniuses before.  I studied at an Ivy-League seminary where many professors did not believe that the Bible was the inerrant Word of God from beginning to end.  Too bad that so many of the students, studying for ministry,  soaked up these modern mythologies.  To be spewed out in sermons to a congregation open to almost anything from the pulpit.  Anything… except what the Bible teaches.

Look up at the night sky.  Let what you see tell you that there is a Creator of this creation.  The ultimate explanation… of the universe.  ‘The heavens declare the glory of God…’  They certainly do!  And, then, as it says later in Psalm 19,  to enjoy the gift of God’s Word, the Bible.  Get into it.  Dig deep.  Memorize and study.  Read it daily.  Believe it.  Decide to be part of a church family where the pastor preaches from the Bible, along with his own believing and submissive heart.  Such a gift–the Bible, the night sky, so many and so much more… all from our Lord.  Amen?  Amen!

Prayer:  Lord, thank you for your creation, which says so much about you and your glory to us who believe.  In His name.  Amen.

SOME GOOD FERTILIZER…Luke 13: 6-9

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I get impatient with plants that don’t seem to grow fast enough.  Sometimes I’ll mention to my wife that I’m going to dig up that plant that seems barely alive and toss it over the hillside to make room for something better.  She will invariably say, ‘no, I’m working on that rosebush or whatever.  Leave it alone ’til next year.’  And next year comes– and so do the good results of her patience and hard labor.

Today’s Bible passage is the parable of the barren fig tree.  Figs are a marvelous source of vitamins and minerals, in addition to being naturally sweet and high in fiber.  A good sustainable source of food in Jesus’ day as well as our own.  Jesus tells this story of a man who plants a fig tree in his vineyard,  while coming back  year after year to see how productive it has been.  But nothing shows.  Three years in a row– no fruit!  So, he tells the vinedresser that that’s enough time.  This tree is taking up valuable space.  ‘Cut it down,’ he says.  Get rid of it.  Take it out of my sight.

But the vinedresser,  who has been watching this tree carefully for three years now,  asks for one more year.  He has plans to dig around the tree,  breaking up the sand and soil.  Toss on some good fertilizer, enriching the soil, making things happen for next year.  Give it time, he recommends.  Don’t be too quick to cut it down.  Hang in there… a tad longer. A bit of patience goes a long way.

Patient with ourselves as the Lord is.  Allowing Him to bring new growth into our lives.  Here’s something else–being patient with someone else.  Now I’m stepping on toes–my own!  Give them the time to grow.  Help them to wait on the Lord’s good work in their lives… and your own.  Good idea?  Put it into practice!

 

Prayer:  Lord, have your way with me, with us.  Make me who You want me to be. In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

HOW GOD FEELS ABOUT HIS OWN…Psalm 149

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Teddy Roosevelt, the 26th President, used to greet people saying  ‘Dee-lighted’!  And he meant it.  People remembered him for this greeting for the rest of their lives.  That’s how God feels about you and me.  He loves us, His children, through faith in Jesus Christ, His only Son.  He delights in us–‘For the Lord delights in His people, He adorns the humble with salvation’ (Psalm 149: 4 NIV) and ‘The Lord your God is in your midst…He will rejoice over you with gladness…'(Zephaniah 3:17).  ‘Dee-lighted…’!

For my 65th birthday my wife organized a pot-luck dinner at our church that was advertised as a ‘Roast of the Pastor’, the old goat!  My wife was amused when people came up to her wondering what kind of roast would be served–pork or beef?!  Really now!  Even some of my goofiness showed up that Sunday–the birthday cake that had ‘Happy Bar Mitzvah, Seymour’!  My primitive portrait that I call ‘Gwendolyn’, which could be considered among some of the worst art anywhere by anyone ever!   She was there for all to admire and lose their appetite over!

People shared some really nice things about me and my ministry (which is not the object of a ‘roast’!).  And then came a dear friend, who gave a scathing diatribe against me, concerning all the wonderful background stories of favorite hymns that I share in worship,  which I research and memorize.  People loved those stories.  She did admit that people liked the background stories,  but it was really my wife who did all the research and let me get all the credit for it all, never doing a lick of work myself!  How horrible.  Who told her?  Who let the cat-out-of-the-bag?!   Truth be told,  this woman is a dear friend… and it was such a dee-light! having fun poked at me.  Knew it came with lots of love and friendship.

What no one knew except me was that as people were ‘roasting’ me,  two of my grandsons were under the head table shoving plastic forks and spoons inside the socks of both my shoes!

God delights in us.  He roars with dee-light when He sees us, the messes we get into, the crazy thinking we have, all the stuff that makes you… you!  Feel His delight.  May it make your days lighter. Have fun!  Laugh!  Go ahead…poke fun at yourself!   Feel the love God has for you.  Dee-lightful indeed!

Prayer:  Our Lord, thank you for just delighting in me.  In Jesus your Son.  Amen.

LETTING GO…Genesis 21: 8-21

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I find it hard to let go of relationships.  Like losing a part of myself.  Why is that?  Possibly, for me, it goes back to my early years, having contracted polio, then being hospitalized miles from our new home in the suburbs never seeing my family at all until I was out of isolation.  A counselor once told me that at the age of two I concluded that they were gone.  Not coming back.  Abandoned me.  What would a 2 year old think?

I hold on to others.  Sometimes far too long.  I was reading in Genesis 21 about Abraham’s first child, Ishmael, who laughed with scorn and derision, at the newly-weaned boy Isaac, the promised son of Abraham and Sarah.  Ishmael laughs, not in joy,  but with hatred and jealousy.  As the Bible says,  Abraham, as hard as it will be, needs to say ‘good-bye’ to his first-born and also Hagar, the woman who was like a wife to him.  To both of them.  Can you imagine the pain in Abraham’s heart?

Both the son and his mother are destroying this household,  trying to ruin what God has in plan for them.  So, with God’s permission and Sarah’s demands, Abraham prepares food and water for Ishmael and Hagar as they are put out of the house, onto a journey whose destination and direction is unknown.

Genesis 21: 15-21 records a dialogue between the Lord and Hagar assuring her of God’s constant care and watchfulness over both of them.  ‘And God was with the boy, and he grew up.  He lived in the wilderness…’ (vs. 20-21).  As hard as it is to say good-bye to someone we’ve loved and still do, but being together is not possible for now at least, we must know that the Lord will watch over them and be listening for our prayers.

Maybe things will change.  But if not, then the Lord will still care for others long after we’re gone from this world.  It’s hard.   Sometimes it becomes necessary.  A tough love.  The Lord knows all about it.  Look what He went through with His first two kids… and where they had to go.

Prayer:  Lord, when we hurt we know we can nestle-up close to you, feeling your arms around us in love and compassion.   In Jesus’ name.   Amen.

DO NOT CALL LIST!… Psalm 9

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When I was a financial planner, I had to make dozens and dozens of phone calls each and every day .   As pastor, lots of calls to make and receive.  Now that I’m retired, the calls are minimal.  The ones I always hated getting most were from sales people.  I thought I had put them on the do-not-call list.  Why is the cremation society calling me at 9pm?  What do they know that my doctor doesn’t?!  Burned me up!

Psalm 9: 10–  ‘And for those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.’   God never minds our calls to Him. Any hour, day or night.  Holidays included.   He never puts our phone number on the ‘do-not-call’ list.  He has no evening television schedule that resents interruption.  He doesn’t screen our calls.   No,  ‘…for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.’

What could be better?  Win the lottery?  Live in Sun Valley, Idaho?  Have everything you ever wanted?  Think of it– all will be done away with in one single moment, our death.  No U-Hauls on the way to the cemetery. The cremation society’s phone calls will not need to be answered.   Supposedly, someone asked John D. Rockefeller’s accountant how much money he left when he died, and that the accountant said, ‘Every last dime!’

To know the Lord is to have eternal life with rewards unthinkable and unimaginable.  Rewards that are out-of-this-world!  They come to those who know Him, who have a personal relationship with Him.  Yes, far from perfect, but close to the heart of God.

The psalmist David says that they not only know the Lord but put all their trust in Him.   On Him alone for there is no other… and we need no other.  It’s not about our efforts as if we need to find some secret formula or hidden code to get to God, for the Bible says that He never forsakes anyone who seeks Him.

Anyone (‘those who’) means you and me.  Not a certain caste or social standing or pedigree or net asset value or anything else.  Those who seek Him, who come to Jesus with an open and repentant heart, will find Him.  I did.  And actually, what I found was that He was seeking me and wouldn’t let go until He found me.  Seek Him…

Prayer:  Lord, thank you that you love to hear from us whenever and wherever we may be.   In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

ON THE WAY… Luke 10: 25-42

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Seems like we’re always going somewhere…a week here,  a month there, a few days who-knows-where;  and, if necessary, time at home!  This is all a big exaggeration except for those who really know us well.  When I was reading in Luke 10 about the expert in the Law of Moses asking Jesus about inheriting eternal life, I kept noticing the references to being on the go and on the way.  What struck me was how spontaneous Jesus was with those He came across on His travels.

How about us?  Open to sharing Jesus as the opportunity comes our way?  Not forcing it… but being available to the Lord.  Being spontaneous,  open to the leading of the Holy Spirit, who is like the wind and the breeze?  When we were staying in New York City , we wanted to visit the original Macy’s store in Manhattan,  as it still has the first wooden escalator.  Clakkety-clack!  As we’re walking down the street toward Macy’s,  I notice a well-dressed man probably in his mid-thirties on his cell phone.  I could hear him talking to his wife about how he was in a coffee-shop and had all his money and passport and train ticket in his ‘man bag’ stolen when someone came over to him asking for directions.

Now what does he do?  My ears perked up at this.  He went on to tell her that the police said that maybe it would show up someday,  but highly unlikely… and all his valuables will be gone.  I was very interested in his conversation, until I felt the nudge of the Holy Spirit.   The message to me was loud and clear– ‘help him’.  Why me, Lord?  You know I don’t like being scammed… and especially if it’s my money!  ‘Help him’.   I told my wife what was going on and turned to him saying, ‘do you need some money?’  He almost fainted.  Immediately, he looked suspiciously at me saying, ‘what do you want?’  ‘I want nothing but if you need money,  I have some for you.  I heard you talking to your wife.’

He almost fainted again!   He was so grateful.  I told him I was a pastor and was happy to help.  Gave him the train ticket money to get to his parent’s home in my old state of New Jersey,  and a tract that talked about having the comfort of the Lord.  He said he needed some comfort!  I didn’t plan this.  Just happened ‘on the way’.  How about opening your own eyes to share the Lord with someone in need?

Prayer:  Lord, let me be your light in someone’s darkness.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

I LOVE TO LAUGH!…Genesis 17: 15-21

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There are many great songs in Walt Disney’s movie,  ‘Mary Poppins’.  One is ‘I Love To Laugh’, which has old-time comedian and character-actor Ed Wynn floating up to the ceiling of his home whenever he laughs too much!

I wonder if Abraham saw that movie?!  He laughs and laughs in Genesis 17.  Most of us think that it’s only Sarah that derisively laughs when she gets word of a coming baby at very advanced ages for both mama and papa ( Genesis 18: 12–‘so Sarah laughed to herself…’)!  No, not just Sarah.  “…I will give you a son by her…Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself,  ‘Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred year old?  Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old,  bear a child?(17:17)'”  As you can see, they both laughed.

Why?   Laugh or cry with that kind of news!  Certainly their laughter was tinged with unbelief,  incredulity and shock.  The promise of a nation of God’s people,  through Abraham and Sarah and not any shortcuts, funny tricks or sleight-of-hand.  God is very clear–the promise of a son would be directly through old Abraham and his not-so-spry wife Sarah.  So, they laugh… and the son’s name will be Isaac, which means in Hebrew ‘he laughs’.

Laughter is built directly into the name of the promised offspring.  I do think that there’s something else going on here.  I believe their laughter contain elements of joy from all that this will mean for them.  Think about what her sister will say?!  Who’s always gloating over the fact that her children, all of them, have children of their own…but poor Abraham and Sarah!  Now… what will she say?

Joy, at the coming fulfillment of the Lord’s promises, is part-and-parcel of this laughter.  Joy that their prayers will finally be answered.   We can laugh because we know the One who will always have the very last laugh of all!  Laugh away…it’s good medicine!

Prayer:  Lord, we do laugh at the joy of your answered prayers.  Thank you.  In Your Son’s name.  Amen.

DON’T VEER OFF COURSE… Luke 9: 57-62

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I’ve veered off course too many times in my life.  I have a very poor sense of direction.  Ask my wife… or better yet, don’t!   I worked for a florist delivering in the Princeton area while studying for my masters at seminary.  Good thing I was paid by the hour, for half the time I was trying to figure out how to get to an address and the rest how to get back to my employer!  One time I delivered some flowers to a home and backing out of the driveway I had no idea if I can come from the right or the left.  No idea at all!   Still, way too many times, I have veered off course not following the Lord as carefully and wholeheartedly as I would now have wanted.

Jesus says that ‘no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God’ (Luke 9:62).  Don’t look back.  Keep your eyes focused forward… not backward.  Poor Lot’s wife paid a terrible price for veering off course.  She became the salt of the earth!

My brother, who is 9 years older, and quite the opposite in personality and interests, built me a number of gas-engine  ‘go-carts’. Wow, they were neat!   One time he built an adult-sized one for himself.  How rude and selfish!   It was powerful… and so tempting to drive.  This one was his.  So, I bugged him to let me drive his.  One day, it was a Sunday when the stores was closed, we were driving our carts in the parking lot of the Lord & Taylor Department Store.   Had the whole lot to ourselves.  It was fun.  Got my way, persistent one that I am.    Yes, he caved… but it came with a warning.  ‘When you get near the big tree in the middle of the parking lot, don’t turn right.  Go around it or you’ll lose control and crash.’  No problem.  I’m a pro, bro!

Well, you guessed it.  Smash-a-roony… right in the middle of that immovable tree. The brakes didn’t work.  My sneakers,  dragging the pavement,  didn’t slow the rig down one bit. His cart was a sorry mess.   We had to carry it home… and, as you could imagine,  I was in big trouble!  I had taken my eyes off where I was to go.  Veered off course.

The lesson?  Listen to directions.  Hear what’s being said for our own good.  Follow whatever the Lord tells us to do and wherever He leads us in life.  Stay near Him,  so you can hear Him.  Stay in the Bible,  and let it be your guiding light.  Good advice?  Oh, yes.  Only wish I had taken it more often…

Prayer: Lord, thank You that we can follow You.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

ONE TOUCH IS ALL IT TOOK… Luke 8: 40-48

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This poor woman has suffered a blood disorder for twelve long years.  That’s a long time…and no end in sight.  I’ve known people with terrible conditions who became consumed with their troubles.  Takes most of the pleasure out of life.  I remember one church member, who in the latter stages of cancer lost total interest in anything having to do with church.  It seemed as if the disease sapped every bit of life out of this person even months before physical death.  Pain can do that.  Focuses everything where you least want it to.  No matter what it is, the troubles seem to take over, lock you in,  pin you down and not let you go.

This poor woman has suffered for too many  years.  On top of that, she has spent hours, days and years of her life with doctors who had no idea how to help.  She wound up spending ‘all her living on physicians’ (v.43), which I assume means her money and all she found good in life.  All consumed.   Until…she hears that Jesus is coming!

Jesus has been asked by the synagogue ruler Jairus to help heal his dying daughter.  The sick woman has heard of Jesus and His healing power.  Maybe He’s the Messiah?  Indications are good that He is who He says He is.  She garners as much strength as she can, and moves into the crowd.  She pushes back, slinks to the side, doing whatever it takes to see Him,  to touch the hem of His garment.  There He is!  She touches Him, not His body but the fringe of his garment.

She thinks if that’s as much as she can get of Him and His attention, that will be enough. She believes in Him.  She has faith in Jesus to help her.   She’s heard about His power to heal.

He does.  She’s healed!   The One who would shed His blood for you and me causes her discharge of blood to stop for the first time in twelve long years.  His touch.  One time.  No more useless physicians now that she’s had the touch of the Great Physician.

What about today?   What’s been bothering and consuming you for years?  You’re sick-and-tired of whatever is making you sick-and-tired.   By all means, push in toward Jesus.  Get close to Him.  Touch the hem of His garment.  A word to Him will help.  Pray and sit at His feet or tug on His sleeve or shout as loud as you can over the din of the crowd–He cares for everything you go through.  Everything.  He means it.

Prayer: Lord, you know all about us.  We come to you once again to help us…to heal us.  In His name.  Amen.