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TIME TO ENRICH THE SOIL… Luke 8: 4-8, 11-15

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For believers in Jesus Christ it’s always time to enrich the soil!  You know the story.  A farmer sows seed that falls on various soils.  Those that fall along the pathway get trampled on while birds swoop down and eat them.  Others fall on rock.  They take hold yet because the soil is so thin, they wither away and die.  The next land among thorn bushes with competition causing the good seed to choke and die.  Finally, some anchor in good soil and the crop grows and grows yielding one hundredfold.   A good crop would normally yield tenfold, so this is an extraordinary yield!

What does all this mean?  Jesus says that the pathway seed are people who allow Satan to grab the Word of God out of their minds and hearts.  Push the Bible to the fringes of their lives. Say it’s but myth and fiction. The rock-seed people have no depth, and when times get tough, they head out of Dodge!  The choked seed are people who fret and worry without faith in the Lord while loving the things of this world, counting their money every night, checking their investment portfolios before and after breakfast, lunch and dinner!

Ah, but the good soil and the good seed, they go together.  The good seed is God’s Word, filled with wisdom and direction.  Like breathing…it’s the oxygen of our lives.  The bread of life that’s kneaded and needed.   At times I go between one soil and another.  Greedy…worried…immature…

I’d really like to be good soil. Luke 8: 15 tells us how.  Good soil hears the Word of God.  Spends time with the Lord in His Word.  To hear Him.  To hold onto Him.   ‘…hold it fast’, Jesus says.  Grab hold for dear life…and don’t let go no matter what.  Good soil comes from an ‘honest and good heart’, whose own word is trustworthy, beyond reproach.  Good soil bears fruit.  And fruit is something for the good of others.  The crop doesn’t get to enjoy the fruit, but others do.  Enjoy the blessing of doing for others, giving to them.

That’s good soil.  Don’t get all worked up… for it says that this soil is ‘patient’.  It’s willing to let God have His say His way…in His time.

Time to enrich your soil?  There it is.  The mixture is available to you anytime you’re ready and willing.  Put the Good Seed into the Good Soil of the Lord.  Watch it grow and grow…

Prayer:  Lord,  help me to hear and heed your Word.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT, DAVID?… Psalm 5

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I know…it should be Alfie!  But this is a psalm of King David.  Psalm 5:7– ‘…through the abundance of your steadfast love, (I) will enter your house.  I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you.’   Now, don’t get all tied up with the word ‘fear’ as if God is some terrible ogre out to scare you, making you jump with fear.  Yes, He is fearful and awesome.  His being is so great that His holiest prophets could only fall on their faces in His presence.

But ‘fear’ is because of His greatness and power.  Not because He can’t wait to get you when you’re down, throwing salt on all your wounds.  Sometimes I’ve had this image of God.  Forgive me, Lord, as that’s nowhere in the Bible.

As a matter of fact, the phrase ‘steadfast love’ is one of the major themes in all the Old Testament.  The genesis of this phrase is in Exodus (a very bad pun on my part!).  Exodus 34: 1-9.  Actually, go back to chapter 33: 12-23 and read of Moses asking the Lord to ‘please show me your glory'(Exodus 33: 18).  And God does.  Not by splitting rocks or gobbling up enemies, but as He says in verses 18ff by displaying His goodness and graciousness, mercy and glory…all in the rear-view mirror,  for no one really sees the face of God in this life.

Don’t get me wrong.  For those who deny and reject God, their choice will be honored, but in a way no one should ever want.  And, when we His children, veer off course, He will certainly discipline us because He loves us(Hebrews 12:6).  Turn to the Lord, and He’ll always be there for us in all His ‘steadfast love’.

So, what’s it all about, Lord?  Who are you, anyway?    Here’s the capstone verse– Exodus 34: (5 and) 6:  ‘The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him (Moses) there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.  The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, the LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands…’  Wow!  Can you possibly read those words and not shout out a loud ‘AMEN’ ?!

What’s it all about?  It’s all about our great God whose steadfast love never runs out of steam, never gets distracted and tempted away from us, never ceases and is new every morning of every day of our lives.  Count on it.  No, count on Him.  That’s what it’s all about!

Prayer:  Thank you, Lord, for who you are.  We depend totally on you.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

BEST WISHES FOR THE NEW YEAR!… Psalm 4

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Let me offer you the very best wishes for this new year!   What would it look like if the very best year of all?   Would it not involve family and friends?  Your health and happiness?  Financial success?  Job security?  How about a substantial raise?  Could be one of many things.

King David in Psalm 4 offers some hints about what’s best for any new year.  In spite of scoffers, David knows that the Lord hears all his prayers (verse 1).  He knows that the Lord cares enough to help him in times of need and ‘distress’.  That’s pretty good–God hears us and responds.

Verse 3 adds more best wishes for all who trust in Him– that He ‘…has set apart the godly for Himself; the Lord hears when I call to Him.’   He hears us.   We are His.  We belong to Him.  He takes care of His own.  Could there be a better new year’s wish for you and me?

David takes it another step higher.  Verses 4 and 5 speak of worship that is simply trusting in the Lord.  David has much he can be angry about in his life.  So do you and I.  But, in worship of our Lord, we move beyond hostility to holy leaning on our God, placing our hands in His, taking His yoke upon us.  ‘Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the Lord.’  That’s a best wish for any year.  Anger will not win out.

Verse 6 echoes those scornful laughs of unbelievers who wonder if there really is any good in this world.  David responds with the best wish of all– seeing the Lord’s loving face gazing down upon us.  To know that He will never go away.  Never disappear or abandon us.  That His smile is one of love and affection.

Like our grandchildren, all of them, equally, without comparison.  To look at them and marvel at them!   Know what I mean?  Nothing could be better.

Verse 7:  ‘You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.’  More than a fine meal with a special bottle of vintage wine.  Much more.  After all, these are the best wishes for the new year– God’s hearing us, His taking us to Himself as His own, and then to be with Him forever.  That’s the very best of all!

Prayer:  Thank you, Lord,  for all the best wishes you have for us in this new year.  Help us to trust you more and more.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

AN EARLY STRUGGLE WITH LASTING EFFECTS…Psalm 3

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Some early memories I have are not the very best.  Times in the hospital, being treated with hot packs, for polio at the age of two, compounded by the feeling of not being wanted.  I’m sure my mother was kidding when she would tell me that my father was very excited to have another child, but that she wasn’t.  She’d laugh but I heard that story so many times.  Left me wondering.

I know… life was tough for my mother.  She had little parental support when she and my father had barely 2 wooden nickels to rub together.  Business for a house painter was always iffy.  One more mouth may have seemed like more of a burden than a joy.  Guess that was the case.  But I don’t know.  Way down deep those words hurt and led to a deep-seated insecurity I’ve always struggled with.

Unfortunately, I know I’ve heard ‘amen’ from many of you who struggle with something similar.  When I first became a believer in Jesus at age 16, I was excited about everything Christian.  But I wondered if I really was born-again.  I tried my level best.  I prayed and prayed.  Went to church Sunday morning and then that evening.  Even to Wednesday night prayer meeting.  I went forward as often as I could, whenever the invitation was given for salvation.

Some people collect stamps…I went forward!   I was re-baptized by immersion hoping the water would wash my doubts away.  It didn’t.  The doubts hung around like unwelcome guests who never know when to leave.  Psalm 3: 2–‘…many are saying of my soul, there is no salvation for him in God.’  But for me, the ‘many’ were inside my own head.  I was undermining my own faith in the Lord.

How did King David, the author of this psalm, overcome the doubts thrown at him?  Verse 3 says that he remembered all the ways that the Lord cared for him in the past, all the goodness of God.  For me, a new believer, I didn’t have much ‘past’ in the Lord to rely on.   So, it took awhile.  The Lord was with me…to secure me in Himself through His Word, which let me know how much He loved me, how much He wanted me, and that He would go to any length to make me His child.  Even death on a cross.

It’s not really our salvation, anyway…it’s His.  Look at verse 8 on Psalm 3–‘Salvation belongs to the Lord…’  I’ve learned over-the-years to stop listening to doubtful voices from the past, and to listen ( it’s not always easy)to the Lord in His Word, the Bible.  Salvation belongs to Him…and so do I!

Prayer:  Lord, thank you for giving us your salvation.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

TIME FOR A NEW RESOLUTION… Luke 6: 17-23

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Any new year’s resolutions for the coming year?  A lot of people make them.   As for me, I gave up new year’s resolutions many moons ago now!  Either I ran out of steam by not following through, or what’s even more embarrassing,  in a few weeks I forgot about them.  Pretty pathetic, huh?

I was reading Jesus’ sermon, the Beatitudes, found in Luke 6.  Reading His words, I had this question.   Does this sermon give us be-attitudes to resolve for the coming year?  Should these be some of our new year’s resolutions?   I don’t think so.

Doubtful if Jesus is urging us to go out of our way  to be poor or hungry or weepy or hated, excluded, snubbed and reviled.  As if those conditions in-and-of themselves will guarantee blessings galore.  Like trying to be humble while being proud of it!  I remember being in Paris many years ago with a mission group selling Christian literature(the theory was that if they buy it for a nominal cost, they will read it, and I think that was spot-on)  to Muslim men from Morocco working far from home and family, thousands of them lined up a mile long outside bordellos in a very run-down part of that magnificent city( of love?).

What’s vivid in my memory is how other mission members in our group would almost fight for the worst seat in the van as we journeyed through the streets of Paris, or grabbed the most rotten apple on the table at dinnertime to show their humility and servant’s heart.  I thought then what I think now–this is not what Jesus had in mind.  Not at all.

As I read the Beatitudes, I sense Jesus telling us that no matter where we are in life, no matter what our age, our family situation, whether lots of friends or few, finding yourself grieving or happy, having lots of money or precious little;  no matter what our lot in life, we can know that the Lord is right there with us.

The Beatitudes are by-products of trusting in the Lord.  You don’t seek them.  You experience them as you trust in Jesus.  They are what happens inside us as we lean on Him.  Maybe I do have a new year’s resolution.  Trust…trust…trust–no matter what!  Want to join me?  Happy New Year!

Prayer:  Lord, we have no idea what awaits us in this new year.  But whatever, we resolve today to simply trust in You.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

I’VE ALWAYS BEEN BIG BONED!…….Read Isaiah 66: 10-14

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I think it was in Junior High that I started to put on a few ounces here and there.  Mainly here and also some over there!  When I bought clothes it was from the ‘portly’ section, which sounded more like ‘porky’ to me!   Too many pretzels loaded with salt with way too many potato chips…munching away lying down in front of the old black-and-white television set at home.

My mother always said that we were ‘big-boned’ people.  It was our over-sized bones that made us look slightly on the hefty side!  And that was the only reason!  How I wanted to believe her. She must be right.  After all, she’s my mother.   She was the one who convinced me that black cows gave chocolate milk!  And thunder was from angels bowling in heaven!  So, why not big bones?

Have you read from Isaiah 66 yet?  Precious verses indeed.  They talk of God as if He was like the most loving mother any one ever had in the whole world, and then some.  Verse 10 speaks of loving God’s city of Jerusalem, with joy overflowing.  Verse 11 pictures a mother nursing her child,  consoling that bundle of love at her breast with nourishment, closeness and satisfaction.

In verse 12 comes ‘peace’/shalom that moves like a sacred river, filling up with God’s glory, flowing over its borders and banks.  While being nursed, God places us on His hips, bouncing us, up-and-down, with a gentle, reassuring motion.

Then comes comfort after comfort after comfort, a trilogy in verse 13.  In verse 14 our hearts rejoice and ‘OUR BONES shall flourish like the grass'(ESV).  My mother was right after all, we will be big-boned people!  Strong, energetic, healthy, prospering, vigorous,  alive forevermore because of what Jesus Christ has done for us. Think about these verses today–they will put a spring in your step for sure!

Prayer:  Lord, your strength is ours in your Son.  Thank you for blessing each of us who believe in You.  Blessings that are new each morning.  Thank you.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

THE YEAR OF THE LORD’S FAVOR…Isaiah 61

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This  passage in Isaiah was quoted by Jesus early in His ministry as referring to Himself (Luke 4: 18-19).  He has come to preach and ‘to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor’.  With a new year upon us, wouldn’t it be great if we could know that this year will be the ‘Year of the Lord’s Favor’?  Assured of that would make facing whatever challenges may come our way that much easier to handle.  Wouldn’t it?

I think what scares lots of us is the uncertainty that something horrible may happen, and that we can’t find the strength to endure it, to stand up under the pressure without breaking.

I suffer from anxiety episodes once in a while.  It feels like claustrophobia sets in and I want to break out, to flee the fear that can be overwhelming.  To escape.    Some favor(!) to have panic attacks…and very embarrassing.  After all,  shouldn’t a pastor have more faith?  Shouldn’t I rise above such mental ailments?  You call yourself a man of God, but you sure have feet of clay.  That’s right–I do.

Sorry to disappoint anyone, but let me tell you what helps– to admit it,  owning up to being less than perfect. They say confession is good for the soul–it is for me.  Being honest and up-front, no hiding behind a false image.

Something else that helps, and here’s a bit of the Lord’s favor in my case, is that I have compassion for other’s who go through difficulties accompanied by frightening fears.  I’m more patient.  More caring.  They may not suffer with what I have, but the ‘Favor of the Lord’ is to make me more loving when normally I might write someone off as less than spiritual with too little faith, way too much fear.   Walk on the other side of the street.    Look the other way.

No, the hurts in my life have made me a more tender person.  I can feel it.   It’s the ‘Favor of the Lord’ to make us more useful in His hands.  More caring than we’d normally be.  More like Jesus who speaks encouraging words to the poor,  works freedom for all kinds of prisoners, restores sight and discernment to blinded people,  and releases whatever oppresses and ties us up ( Luke 4:18-19).  In other words, ‘the Year of the Lord’s Favor’!

Hold onto Him.  Lean on the everlasting arms.  Cling to the One who overcame even death on a cross, and rose to new life…as we will by faith in Him alone.  Happy New Year!  ‘The Year of the Favor of the Lord’!

Prayer:  Dear Lord, thank you for all your blessings in our lives.  In Jesus’ name.   Amen.

A REAL GEM AMONG GEMS… Isaiah 63: 1-9

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The more time I spend in the Old Testament, the more I crave it.   Over the years, how many times have I heard someone say that the God of the Old Testament is mean-spirited and vindictive, different from the God of the New Testament.  Ever heard that?

How wrong can they be.  It’s the same Lord,  both the Old and the New.  Same God…same time…same place!   Isaiah 63: 9–‘I will tell you of the kindnesses of the Lord…In all their distress He too was distressed, and the angel of His presence saved them.  In His love and  mercy He redeemed them;  He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.’   What a gem from God’s Word.  The Bible is chock full of them.  This is one of the best.

Sometimes we wonder if God cares about what we’re going through.  A heresy has always reared its ugly head all through church history that God is way up in the heavens, unfeeling and uncaring toward those of us stuck way down here.  Maybe you think that?  Read verse 9 again.  Slowly, word by word, phrase by phrase.  It says as clear as clear can be–when we’re facing difficult times, we never face them alone.  God feels for us and with us.  He’s moved by what moves us.

Like a good Father ( v. 16), He loves us and cares for us.  More than that, He sends His angels to be with us.  This is a reference to Exodus 23: 20-23 and 33: 14-15. God never deserted Israel, even when they wandered for 40 years in the desert.  He’s not absent, AWOL, off somewhere else with a younger and cuter convert.  No,  He’s with us through-and-through, thick-and-thin.

And  He redeems us– which means to buy us out of slavery.  Pilgrim Church in New York City under their pastor Henry Ward Beecher would raise monies to buy slaves out of bondage before and during the Civil War, staging slave-redemption auctions in their Sunday worship services.  Isaiah 63:9 says that our God redeems us.

No money needs to be raised.  No staging.  God’s love and mercy is all that’s needed, which He gave willingly and freely…for you and me.  More than that, He lifts us up.  When we’re down, there He is with hands outstretched toward us…to lift us up, back on our feet.  When you can’t make one more step on your own, and all your strength has been sapped away, then this verse says– ‘…He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.’  Carried our burdens. Past, present…and future.   Shares every bit of our lives always because of His love–found here in the Old Testament!

Prayer:  Thank you, Lord, for being One with us…in love and mercy.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

A DIFFERENT SLANT ON PRAYER…Isaiah 62

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What more can be said about prayer?   I have lots of books on prayer in my library.   Some I have yet to read.  So many books… so little time!   Talking with  church members from my four churches, one comment seemed always to rise-to-the-surface about prayer.  People hesitated to take too much of God’s time.  After all,  He’s so busy with concerns much deeper than theirs.   Some felt selfish asking God for whatever it was they needed or were worried about.  Isn’t once enough, anyway?  Does God get tired with my constant begging for the same things day in and day out?

Answers can be found in Jesus’ parables about the persistent widow and the unjust judge ( Luke 18: 1-8), and the friend who comes at midnight (Luke 11: 5-8).  Both parables may have been inspired by two verses found in Isaiah 62.  This portion of  Isaiah deals with the coming Servant of the Lord, the Messiah.  Look at verses 6 and 7.  Here we have God’s permission to come to Him whenever, as often as we like, with whatever is on our minds and hearts.   No prayer censorship.  And you can never, ever wear out your welcome with the Lord!   The ‘Open for Business’ sign is always out and lit.   And He means it!

From Isaiah 62,  the Old Testament, the Bible of Jesus–‘…You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest, and give Him no rest until…(vs.6-7)’  Isn’t that just the most amazing invitation you’ve ever received?  ‘You are hereby welcomed into the presence of God with whatever you want to talk about…’ signed God Himself!  ‘Give Him no rest…’

God never tires of us. He’s asked us to come to Him.  He neither slumbers nor sleeps.  Never a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on His doorknob.   A good resolution for the new year would be to spend more time with the Lord and less time trying to figure out His hours of service or what right words to use.  Forget that stuff.  Come… and ‘give Him no rest’!

Prayer: Dear Lord, how humbling to come to you… at your invitation… for us to spend lots of time together.  In this new year I’m going do just that.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.