SIN’S REWARDS Numbers 32: 23-24

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I can still hear her warnings.  My mother scares me with these–‘God’s going to get you’.  ‘Be sure your sins will find you out.’  I was a nice little boy.  A polio victim needing extra TLC!  Maybe not.  I guess I stepped over the line.  Did what I shouldn’t have.  Those words come flying at me and hit their target’s bullseye.

My mother was not a particularly religious person.  Rarely attends church as an adult.  Been to Sunday School and Christian Endeavor youth programs, but with seeming little lasting effect.  Except when needed in her arsenal of discipline with her youngest!

Doubt my mother knows she’s quoting from the Old Testament book of Numbers–‘…and you may be sure that your sin will find you out’ (Numbers 32:23).  The only Bible verse she memorizes for Christian Endeavor is ‘Jesus wept’ (John 11:35).  She’s probably not alone!

Numbers 32 is not an easy read.  Not to modern ears and eyes.  War never is.  The people of ancient Israel have battles ahead, great and fearsome ones, to gain God’s Promised Land.  Read the book of Numbers.  It’ll be in your face.  Hard to take.  Harder to fathom the sacrifices required.

Back to my mother’s warning about sin finding me out, catching me red-handed and flatfooted.  Sin doesn’t pay.  Calls us out.  Does us in.  Wreaks havoc in more ways than one.  Then spills over, corrupting future generations.  Its insidious ways poison so much and so many.  Sin will find us out.  My mother’s right.

The remedy?  Too simple for most.  For believers, its simplicity is overshadowed by the enormity of Jesus’ love and sacrifice.  Almost unimaginable yet true and trustworthy.  All our sin exposed and laid on our Savior’s shoulders.  He then takes them and tosses them far, far away.  A threat no longer.

Could forgiveness and salvation be mere pie in the sky?  Hardly.  In reality it’s the real McCoy.  On the up and up and twenty-four carat gold.  All because of Jesus.  His gifts… never earned by us.  That’s our Savior’s rewards!

 

Thank you, Jesus, for everything.  Amen.

 

SMELL THE WOOD BURNING? Deuteronomy 1

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How many times has the Lord saved my bacon?  Grabbed me by the hand just as I’m heading over some cliff’s edge?  Saved by heaven’s bell.  Yet, I rarely notice.  Clueless.  Things happen.  Messes work themselves out.  Lucky break.  Good karma.  Really?  Not!

Wish I could see God at work.  Wouldn’t I feel much better?  Not so fearful.  There’s that word.  Fear.  My father suffered with too many worries for his own good.  Kept him hemmed in, fulfilling few of his supposed dreams.  Some of his claustrophobic fears that I witness, I inherit.

Fear.  Shadows from the past, biting us in the here and now.  Water, under the bridge, flooding to the surface.  Its upstream sins now rush downstream, finding us out.  How about all those risks life throws at us?  We’re afraid to leave home, even though most accidents occur under its roof.  Thanks for the reminder!  Now I’m mired in a blue funk, taken down a peg or two.

What about the future?  Oy veh!  Not then.  Money problems down the road a piece.  Medical can of peas around the corner.  Kids imploding.  Marriages exploding.  Pastors running amok.  Churches splitting and dying.  Politics wrenching with horrendous hostility and division.  The future?  What’s to fear?  Come to think of it– everything including the kitchen sink.  And you know what plumbers charge!  Woe is me.

Ready for some good news?  Deuteronomy 1:29-31–‘…Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them.  The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, and in the desert.  There you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.’

Stop for a second.  Put on your thinking cap.  Look back.  Brainstorm about the times that God has helped you.  Count those many blessings.  Think of more.  Smell the wood burning?  Throw on another log.  Stir up the embers.

This week, when fears rear their ugly heads, I’m going to guard myself with God’s good promises, praising Him as much as I can.  At least I’ll try, as I’m far from perfect.  But He knows.  He understands.  Like a good father carrying us.

Join me?  Nothing to fear…

 

Thank you, Lord, for all your goodness promised to us in Jesus.  Amen.

 

 

CONTENTMENT Ecclesiastes 7

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Being content.  Satisfied.  Pleased as punch.  Wonder what that looks like?  How would I know if I’ve achieved it?  Obviously, I’m clueless.  Hence the question.

I’m not content.  Not sure I want to be.  Sounds a bit like being lazy.  Satisfied with less in life; when, with some effort, more could be achieved.

I don’t want to stagnate.  Stand still.  Tread water.  A sluggish slacker.  Stale and putrid.  Moseying along like Elsie, Borden’s Sweetened Condensed Milk’s contented cow, chewing my cud!  Enough already!

Obviously, the Old Testament Book of Ecclesiastes doesn’t commend sleepyheaded blanket pressers.  Hardly.  Read it and you’ll discover that the author dives headfirst into life.  Old King Solomon makes quite a splash.  Tries this, burrows into that.  Maybe life in too much fullness!

However, he concludes that contentment has eluded him.  Being malcontent, he breathes the foul, fetid air of meaninglessness as if life is passing him by.  Ever felt that way?

Ecclesiastes 7: 13-15–‘Consider what God has done:  Who can straighten what he has made crooked?  When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other.  Therefore, a man cannot discover anything about his future.  In this meaningless life of mine…’  See?

Our blood, sweat and tears will not prove to be long-lasting.  We’re easily replaced.  Yesterday’s headlines rarely register in our memory banks for more than a few months.  Money-grubbers end up leaving behind every thin dime in spite of spending their lives grabbing and glomming onto mountains of moola, dough and the tallest stack of greenbacks their grubby paws can grasp at.  Contentment?  Not!

So today’s Bible verses point us away from this world.  To where?  Of course, to the Lord of all.  Like that Gospel song– ‘This world is not my home, I’m just a passin’ through’.  For believers, home is a mansion over the hilltop.  Where life will be packed to overflowing with meaning.  Best of all, we’ll be with Jesus.

God gives many promises.  But few specific guarantees.  Will you live to be a hundred?  Die before your children or grandchildren?  That your job will be effortless and well paid?  Churches rift-free?  Every day hunky-dory with gobs of peaches-and-cream to feast on?  Yeah, right.  Again, God’s promises clock in with fewer specific guarantees.

So, accept what comes.  Some things you can and must fight.  Others you dare not.  Pray for wisdom in an uncertain and untrustworthy world.

By the way, what does His level of contentment look like…to you?  Don’t put on the gas here.  Or shake a leg.  Slow down.  Apply the brakes.  Pull to the side of the road.  Chew on it for a bit.  Challenging, isn’t it?  Especially for the likes of me!

Contentment.

 

Thank you, Lord, that we can always trust you.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

I’M GETTING IT. MAYBE! Ecclesiastes 1 and 5

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I’m getting it.  What a cold or worse the flu?  Not quite.  I’m looking at a book of the Bible that causes many to scratch their heads, perplexed and stymied.  Some eventually throw in the towel and give up.  Others skip it totally.  Yes, smarty-pants, since you’ve read today’s title, you amazingly figured out that I’m referring to Ecclesiastes.  Go to the head of the class!

Recently it’s message is beginning to sink in.  I always pray for the Lord to give me His wisdom and understanding as I read my Bible.  Without His help, might as well leave it to gather dust on some upper shelf.  So, I ask Him.

In addition, I don’t sit around with head in the clouds waiting for the fog to clear and some light to go on.  No, I read the notes included in my study Bible, check out commentaries, and use my computer to assist.  You can, too.  The Holy Spirit plus hard work.  A winning combination!

So, what’s starting to make sense?  This book’s author, most likely King Solomon near the end of his life, broods over wealth, family, pleasure, seeming pointlessness of life, the reason for our being.  When he boils it all down, he concludes that– ‘…there is nothing new under the sun’ (Eccles. 1: 9).  And that all is– ‘Meaningless! Meaningless!  Everything is meaningless’ (Eccles. 1: 2).

Can’t win for losin’.  Not a ghost of a chance.  Why try when the outcome is a big fat zero.  Might as well fold your hands and die.  Not what old Solomon says at all.

Could be, though, if all you want out of life is striving and accomplishment.  Like writing books and devotionals to put someone’s name up in lights for multiple generations.  Me…me…me.  ‘Remember Grant, remember Lee; to heck with you, remember me’ (from my 6th grade autograph book!).

Desiring prideful, lasting success will only dump us on history’s scrap heap.  A few generations out and I’m just a name on a line on some family tree.  You too.  Ecclesiastes pushes us to get over ourselves.

As in being content with whatever the Lord has in mind for however long He allows.  Being satisfied with His blessings.  Counting them.  Mulling them over.  Maybe being happy.  Maybe.

This life flies by so fast.  Through our hands like greased lighting.  So, don’t hold on so tight.  Open-handed is best.  Enjoy.  Have fun.  Why not?  After all, Ecclesiastes says to– ‘…to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work–this is a gift of God.  He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart’ (Ecclesiastes 5:19-20).

That’s it!  I’m starting to get it!

 

Father, for the joy of knowing Jesus, our Lord and Savior, we thank you.  Amen.

 

WINNER Proverbs 29: 16

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Talk politics?  Let’s not and say we did!  At our last church, my wife and I make it crystal clear that political infighting happens outside the church walls, and hopefully not even there.  Within?  No way.  Just nip it.  Issues that affect biblical teaching?  A different matter entirely.  But no way should mean-spirited partisanship rear its ugly head, dividing believers one from another.  At least we give it the ‘old college try’.

Each year I read the Book of Proverbs.  Recently one verse grabs me by the sleeves and says ‘look at me’.  So I do.  Proverbs 29: 16–‘When the wicked thrive, so does sin, but the righteous will see their downfall.’  Let’s do some unpacking.

Not so encouraging for scuzzy low-lives.  Not at all.  For it’s always true–sin multiplies like rabbits; likewise, infecting everything, everyone, everywhere.  Evil, out of control, taking control.  Hell on earth with nowhere to hide.  Like a sitting duck rifled with unsavory consequences.  Terrors reign when the wicked thrive.

Thank the Lord for the second half of verse 16–‘…but the righteous will see their downfall.’  Now, let me be the first to fess up that I’m far from righteous.  Not by a long stretch.  Just an old sinner… saved by grace.

Jesus pays the ransom price for our freedom from sin.  He alone makes us brand spanking new.  Forgiven.  Hence, we’re righteous!  For God sees His Son when He looks us in the eye.  Clear as a bell.  Clean as can be.  Only because of Jesus.  Righteous.  You understand.

Bottom line– this means that the wicked don’t thrive forever.  Down they’ll go.  Worse than Humpty-Dumpty.  All the ungodly.  No winners among them.

And that’s how believers make it through scurrilous political seasons.  Knowing that God wins.  When?  I haven’t a clue.  How He works this all out?  Your guess is as good as mine.  All we need to know, all that really matters, is…well, you get the point.  Don’t you?

 

Lord Jesus, we know how completely reliable you are.  Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

NAME ABOVE ALL OTHERS Philippians 2: 5-11

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Why was I surprised?  Shouldn’t have been.  Yet it threw me a curveball.  Had to sit back and consider my options.  What was I to do?  Seemed boxed in.  Maybe I should sleep on it.  Time to cool down.  Pour some oil on troubled waters.

What’s happened?  I’m commissioned to write seven devotionals for a magazine of my old denomination.  A group I quit decades ago.  Last time I wrote for them was in the early 1980’s.  Guess my name emerges as a writer of uplifting daily devotionals.  Fooled them!   But I’m excited to get started.

However, their writing specifications shock me.  If I had false teeth, they’d fall out.  Could have knocked me over with a feather.  What gives?  They require that I should never use the masculine gender for God.  Forbidden words like ‘Father’, ‘Son’, ‘He’, ‘Him’, whatever, whoever.  The gender cops are out in full force.  Yellow police tape wraps around my computer, bullying ‘Keep Him Out’!   Understand my quandary?

First thought was to bag it.  Chuck it out the window.  Toss it on the rubbish bin, ready for the dump.  Somehow I decide not to be hasty.  Sit in this pickle a bit longer.  Can always refuse their offer, yet I’d give my eyeteeth for one more opportunity to lift high the name of Jesus with a group I no longer identify with.  Our paths no longer parallel .  Our views of the Bible, salvation by faith in Jesus alone, you name it, are increasingly opposed.

So, I pray– ‘Lord, what should I do?  You know my heart.  That I want to share you with others, especially to those I poorly witnessed to all those years ago.’  No heavenly voice is heard, or message on the walls or in the sky.  Only a spark from a Bible verse.  And I know the source.  Any guesses?

Philippians 2:9– ‘Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name above every name.’  Now I know what to do.  Lift up the name of Jesus.  Forget writing ‘he’ and ‘him’.  Just write ‘Jesus’.  All throughout those seven devotionals, I raise up the name of my Lord Jesus.  Over and over again.  Then more.  And once again.  Jesus!

The results?  Accepted by the editors!  Really?  Yes, really and truly!  And feedback from readers all over the country, and even some overseas, overwhelms me.  I connect with many more than I imagined.  Why?  I know why.  So do you.

Do the same.  Lift up the name of Jesus, the name above all names, whether anyone likes it or not.  Boldly.  Lift high His name.  Jesus!

 

Thank you, Jesus, for being Lord of all.  Always and forever in your name.  Amen.

GOOD NEWS

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Gideon House Books has now published my new daily devotional ‘Reminders For Daily Devotion’.  Today you can buy a hard copy paperback or two through Amazon.  If you have Amazon Prime the shipping is always free.  However, with the cost per copy of $12.99 if you buy two, even without Amazon Prime,  the shipping will also be free.  What a deal!  Buy your own copy and give another to a friend or family member you’d like to bless this Thanksgiving/Christmas season.  Put your thinking cap on and ask the Lord who might benefit from such a gift.

I’m delighted at the quality of this new book and hope that the Lord will bless you each day as you read a new devotional from my pen to your heart.  It’s truly an honor for me to be welcomed into your daily devotions to Jesus.

Blessings to each of you, my faithful ‘ReflectionsOutofTime’ weekly devotional readers!  John

 

WHICH WAY? Proverbs 14

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My sense of direction plugs along utterly and hopelessly lost!  No joking matter when we’re navigating endless  English and Welsh roundabouts a few years back!  Nerve-racking.  Going the right way always the best choice.  Off-track can really mess up your day!

Reading Proverbs 14, two paths are clearly laid out.  Doesn’t take a Lewis and Clark to figure it out.  It’s right there in front of us.

So how come we wind up on dead-end streets so often?  In neighborhoods way too dangerous for God’s people?  Toying with short-cuts that cut us off from sweet fellowship with Jesus?  How come?  We know why.  That three-letter word–sin.  Plain and simple.  Rotten to the core.

Take a moment now to read Proverbs 14 if you haven’t already.  You’ll immediately note the great divide.  I’ve made a list contrasting the fool with the wise, the faithless with the good, the simple and the prudent, those who are full of hot air with those who work hard, the mocker and the discerning, the truthful and the fake.  On and on.

You get the point.  Choose to follow the Lord.  Get off your high horse.  It’s not all about me, I and myself.  That’s the fool’s way.

Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to discover that going God’s way is much better than going my way.  Sorry Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald!  But that’s the way it is.  Always has been.  Guess what?  Always will be!

Get in line.  Behind Him.  His shadow leads the way, protecting us as we traipse from here to there.  The views?  Just out of this world!

 

Thank you, Lord, for showing me the way.  May I take it every day.  For Jesus’ sake.  Amen.

 

HARD WORK U! Proverbs 13: 4

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Friends recommend that when we’re in Branson, Missouri that we have lunch at the Lodge of the College of the Ozarks.  We do, and how impressed we are with this Christian college known as ‘Hard Work U’!

Why the nickname?  Hard work!  Students labor on campus for their tuition, room and board.  They milk cows, wait tables, shovel manure, tidy up Lodge guestrooms.  That’s why it’s called ‘Hard Work U’.  And no one graduates with even a penny of Ozark College debt.

Likewise, the book of Proverbs calls us to get off our duffs and get to work.  Lazy and work-shy loafers get a bad rap.  After all, why does God give us potential and abilities?  To show off, lounging around, relishing that I’m better than you, though refusing to lift a finger?  Hardly.

I have the privilege to write for the Lord.  This is His gift to me.  Now, let me ask you a question.  Do these weekly devotionals magically appear on my WordPress webpage?  Do I get up in the morning only to discover that some ‘good fairy’ has finished my writing along with leaving money under my pillow for a cracked tooth?  Do I write willy-nilly hoping it all makes sense without exerting any daily editing work?  No way, buster!  Hard Work Me!

It should go without saying that the enjoyment of godly gifts comes from the using of them.  Satisfaction that only time and toil bring.  I’m a better writer because I’ve written, edited, rewritten, and re-edited so much.

Rewards come as we grease the wheels of God’s gifts.  Proverbs 13:4–‘The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.’  See?  Hard Work Us!

How about your godly gifts?  At work for Him?  Be honest.  No one will overhear.  Except the Lord who wants to get you off the dime using His gifts… for the good of others and Jesus’ Kingdom.

Ready to get up and go?  Good.  Don’t say you’ll do it.  Do it!

 

Lord Jesus, energize me so that I can do my best for you and others.  Amen.

LITTLE BY LITTLE Exodus 23: 20-33

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Stop grousing about reading from the book of Exodus.  I know.  Exodus has lots of chapters about the architecture and furniture of the Tabernacle, along with long sections of laws and regulations, which seem out-of-date to us modern know-it-alls.  Me…not you!

Today I notice a phrase in Exodus 23 that stops me in my tracks.  This happens frequently now that I spend more time in my Bible.

First, let’s consider the context.  God is instructing His people on worship and godly living after liberation from slavery in Egypt.  Here in Exodus 23: 20, God reassures them that He’ll be sending His angel to guide and protect.  All He asks for is obedience, a willingness to follow His ways.

The Lord will go ahead of His people to clear the land of the ungodly.  To give His own a country.  This freeing up from enemy peoples will not happen in the twinkle of an eye.  No.  ‘But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you.  Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land’ (Ex. 23: 29-30).

There’s the phrase that gets my attention.  ‘Little by little…’–repetition drives home the point.  God’s goals for His people will take time.  Many years in their case.  Not lickety-split.

I don’t want to hear this.  I crave it now… or how about yesterday?  I’m not getting any younger.  Come on, God.  Get going.  Get moving my way!

Oh how I need to remember that God works at His own pace…in His own time.  May not be to my liking, but His will is always far better.  The best really.  Which is why I need to hear that phrase again– ‘little by little…’  Slowly but surely.  He’s not done yet.  ‘Little by little…’

 

Thank you, Jesus, for perfect timing.  Amen.