daily devotional

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Believing God’s Promises

Do you ever fantasize about a dream house? Or is there a certain community you’d love to move into? Maybe you’d like to build on a wooded property with a lake or on that hilltop acreage with views for miles?

Just for a moment, let’s pretend that a wealthy benefactor offers you that chance. Money is no object. Build what you what, where you want. The perfect spot and a house that suits you. Whatever you’ve always thought would make you happiest—we’ll make it happen.

The house is finally finished and furnished. The landscaping is done. All’s ready and it’s all yours. When are you going to move in?

Would you be there this afternoon? Or would you start thinking about practicalities—taxes, utilities, upkeep, moving the kids to a new school. Or might you start worrying about the possibility of legal fine print that you have yet to discover—what if it’s not really yours?  Maybe you even start feeling sentimental about that old house you’re crammed into now and wondering if you really want to leave it. Besides, you’ve got a lot on your plate and you aren’t sure when you’ll find time to move …

In the meantime, you look at pictures of the house and think about how great it would be to live there. You savor the satisfaction of knowing that someone has said it belongs to you. Sometimes you drive by and admire the place and determine that you’ll get there … soon. But it never happens.

Does that story seem ridiculous?  Read this story–

Then the LORD said, “I will pardon them … But as surely as I live, and as surely as the earth is filled with the LORD’s glory, not one of these people will ever enter that land. They have all seen my glorious presence and the miraculous signs I performed both in Egypt and in the wilderness, but again they have tested me by refusing to listen to my voice. They will never even see the land I swore to give their ancestors. None of those who have treated me with contempt will ever see it.” (Numbers 14:20-23)

The children of Israel have seen God’s mighty hand at work in their lives; He saved them from a hopeless slavery and destroyed the Egyptians who pursued them. He forgave their many and recurring sins—even idolatry—and did not rejected them as His children. He was leading them to a land they would call their own, a good place where He would bless them.

But now as they’re poised to enter the land God has promised them, they react in fear and distress when ten of their spies come back and predict problems ahead. And because they listen to the voices of men and do not listen to God’s voice and believe His promises, He declares they will never set foot in the land He wanted to give them. They have treated Him with contempt. They’ll wander and die in the wilderness, within sight of a promise that will never be fulfilled!

As we read the stories now, we can be pretty hard on the Israelites… with manna appearing every morning and miracle after miracle providing for them and that cloud and pillar of fire constantly with them – how could they doubt God’s care and protection and promises?

Yet we do the same thing. We forget all He has already done for us, and we don’t believe His words to us. Even though He has forgiven our sins, if our hearts will not trust Him, we can never live in the land He’s promised us. It’s very much like never moving into that dream house. Our lives here will never be what the Creator wants to give His children.

God says, ‘They are a people whose hearts turn away from me’ (Psalm 95:10). I believe this is not talking about those who reject God, but about those who call Him Savior but will not trust Him in daily life. Their hearts are not centered and anchored to God.

I see this as a matter of focus.
Do our eyes focus on what’s going on in the world or on what God is doing in our lives?
Are we tuned into what human thinking promotes or are we listening to what God is saying?
Do we build our bridges to tomorrow and lay our stepping stones to the future on the groundwork of worldly logic and practicality or do we move ahead by building on the foundation of God’s promises?

Have we turned our hearts away from Him? Have we treated God with contempt?

The same phrase is used in Jeremiah 17, the very descriptive passage that contrasts two ways of living:

This is what the LORD says:
“Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans,
who rely on human strength
and turn their hearts away from the LORD.
They are like stunted shrubs in the desert,
with no hope for the future.
They will live in the barren wilderness,
in an uninhabited and salty land.”

Turning our hearts away from the LORD lands us in a barren wilderness with no hope for the future. Believing Him and trusting His promises, Peter writes, is what enables us to escape that wilderness and actually enter into the life God has promised us (2 Peter 1:4). The next verses in Jeremiah 17 describe the secure and fruitful life of those who put all their hope and confidence in God. Where is my heart, my hope, my confidence?

If I put my faith journey into a very simple timeline it would be this: First, I believed being a Christian was all about what I did—I must live up to God’s standards. Then, I learned through painful lessons that we can never be good enough and it’s only God’s grace that makes us His children. And now, I’m concentrating on living my inheritance, believing and living the promises God gives His children. I want to know all those promises. I want to move into that house He’s promised me. I have no desire to wander in the wilderness with His promises unfulfilled.

I believe it’s a matter of turning my heart. Where does my heart turn? May it always turn to God’s promises and His unfailing love and care.

 Come, let us worship and bow down.
Let us kneel before the LORD our maker,
for He is our God.
We are the people He watches over,
the flock under His care.
If only you would listen to His voice today!
Psalm 95:6-7

If only we would listen to His voice today!

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Suffering: Between Eden and Eternity

Have you figured it out? Can you tell me why there is so much suffering on this earth? Even those who God has named His children go through terrible times of pain and grief. Why? Why? WHY? Does God bring suffering? Is it punishment or testing or discipline? Do we suffer because we aren’t good enough, wise enough, or in prayer enough? Or does trouble come because we are God’s children and Satan is at war with God? Is all this suffering caused by the enemy who constantly seeks to destroy what God creates?

We were created to live in unspoiled and utter intimacy with God, and that is still His plan. The paradise in Eden began with that intimacy between God and His creation, and now God’s people are promised a life with Him, a life where all tears, death, sorrow, crying, and pain will be gone forever (Rev. 21:4). But between Eden and eternity, between Genesis and Revelation, is the story of the whole human race and each individual life on this earth. And it’s a story of thorns and thistles and pain and tears.

Scripture does not answer all our questions about suffering and pain. In fact, it answers very few. Some passages read as though pain may be the discipline God uses to transform us into what He means us to be. Other passages might indicate it’s punishment or judgment on sin. Some arguments are made that it is the result of evil in a fallen world … And here we are, back to the same questions posed in the first paragraph.  And so we go ‘round and ‘round, asking Why? Who? What if? Why does God…? Why doesn’t God …?

I think we ask the wrong questions.

We will never be able to answer some of those questions about our lives. God’s thinking, ways, and plans are so far beyond our ability to comprehend that trying to understand, dissect, and define what God might be thinking could even push up against idolatry. Are we presuming that our intellect is able to understand God?

Yet there are things we can know because God does give us very clear, definite statements about what’s going on in this thorny, painful world.

* Jesus puts it bluntly: “In this world, you will always have trouble.” There you have it. “But,” He says, “I am stronger than anything the world can throw at you.” (John 16:33)

* Jesus is alive and with us now. God lives with us, right where we are, in every circumstance, in every moment. (John 14:23; 1 John 4:13; Matthew 28:20; Psalm 139:7-10)

* His plan is to change each child of God, to give us new hearts and new character and new lives, no matter what is going on in the earthly realm in which we live. (2 Corinthians 3:18 and 5:17; Ephesians 2:10; Philippians 1:6)

* Those who have been given new life and a new relationship with God are now His ambassadors on earth; we’re part of God’s work in bringing people back to Himself. (2 Corinthians 5:18-20)

* He works for our good in everything—and that includes suffering and tears. (Romans 8:28)

* He promises us all kinds of resources: power, strength, armor, refreshment, wisdom, comfort, guidance—everything, in fact, that we need to live a life devoted to Him. (2 Peter 1:3-4 and hundreds of other verses)

* We look forward to going home, where we will live in unspoiled and utter intimacy with God the Father and Creator in a place without tears and pain. (Hebrews 13:14; Revelation 21:4)

This is our story between Eden and eternity. The whys in our lives will always be mystery. The necessary question we must ask ourselves is, Are we believe-living His promises that enable us to live beyond?

 

 

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When Jesus Comes

Imagine the sensation he caused. Word spread through Jerusalem and Judea like wildfire. An eccentric loner who lived out in the wilderness and ate bugs was now preaching the one message Jewish people had for centuries longed to hear: The Messiah is coming! The one who will deliver us from foreign rulers and set up His own kingdom is coming. Get right with God, because it is happening now!

And they did get right with God–at least, as they understood the process. Rich and poor, young and old, strict religious leaders and those who had been slacking off in observation of religious traditions—they flocked out to the wilderness to hear the preacher, throngs believed his message, and they confessed sins and were baptized in the river as a symbol of their “rightness” with the God who was going to come and establish himself as their king.

Some were even talking about the possibility that this man in the wilderness was in reality the Messiah himself.

“No, I’m just the messenger,” the preacher said. “I’m baptizing you with water to show that you’ve asked God to forgive your sins, but someone is coming who is much greater than I am. And when he comes, he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit!”

The preacher in the wilderness baptized, but it was a mere hint of what was to come. The baptized walked into the river as an act of faith, hoping to show they were right with God. The water washed down over them and then dried as they made their way home. For many, once they were back in their everyday world the power of the moments in the river wore off. John’s baptism was an outward act on the part of sincere but unaware and too fickle men and women.

When the Great One did come, He didn’t live up to expectations. Many found it difficult to believe and accept Him for who He was. In spite of their hesitation, though, large crowds came to hear what He had to say. And one thing He said was this:

“If you love me and follow what I say, my Father and I will come and live with you.”

When someone comes to live with you—spouse, baby, parent, roommate, pet—your world changes! You change. Your thinking changes. Your schedule changes. Your commitments change.

Jesus baptizes those who believe and He comes to live with them.

His baptism is not a symbolic human gesture to represent what might or might not be going on internally. It is not an act that is soon forgotten, “dries off,” or becomes ritual and loses its power.

He baptizes with His Spirit to transform every aspect of our lives.

This is a deep, soaking, penetrating baptism.
    an act of the living God
    to do away with the old life and create a completely new life
    and seal a new relationship.

Everything depends on this:
When Jesus comes, He baptizes those who believe and makes possible all we are powerless to do.

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Scripture: See Mark 1:1-8 and John 14:23

To read about how life changes, click on “The Spirit” category in the right panel.

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Morning Prayer

O Lord, you have examined my heart
and know everything about me.

You know when I sit down or stand up.
You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.

You see me when I travel
and when I rest at home.
You know everything I do.

You know what I am going to say
even before I say it, Lord.

You go before me and follow me.
You place your hand of blessing on my head.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
to great for me to understand!

If I ride the wings of the morning,
if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
even there your hand will guide me,
and your strength will support me.

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Point out anything in me that offends you,
and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

May your children know your hand of blessing on them today, Father.

Amen.

 

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from Psalm 139 (NLT)

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Rejoicing in the mysterious companionship

A friend just sent me 2 Corinthians 13:14.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (NLT)

Oh my, oh my! The richness of a life filled with these three things! Nothing I write could ever plumb the depths or heights or breadth of such richness. I think the only way we can even begin to know and understand what such a life may be is to walk confidently into it, building our lives on that grace and love and fellowship.

“The fellowship of the Holy Spirit.” In my Greek word study (don’t be too impressed with the depth of my knowledge… this is just a dictionary of sorts at the back of my study Bible, but it is very helpful), the word translated here as fellowship is koinonia. (See?  I don’t even know how to put that line above the “o” where it properly belongs…)

Koinonia, this study says, is “an association of close mutual relationship and involvement with another; it is an alliance with another person or group, formal or informal. There is an implication of intimacy, singleness of purpose, trust of one another, sharing of material goods, and harmony rather than hostility.”*

Wow. This is the way I want to live–in koinonia with the Holy Spirit! In intimacy, singleness of purpose, trust, and harmony with Him. Jesus said because He is no longer in this world with us, He would send the Spirit to live in us … teaching, guiding, reminding, comforting. God’s presence within us! The Spirit living in koinonia with us is the evidence that we are His.

Here’s a prayer for all of us this weekend, from A Diary of Private Prayer by John Baillie. (I like to think of the “eventide” that he uses in the first line as the eventide of my life … in other words, till the end of my days.)

O Holy Spirit of God, visit now this soul of mine, and tarry within it until eventide. Inspire all my thoughts. Pervade all my imaginations. Suggest all my decisions. Lodge in my will’s most inward citadel and order all my doings. Be with me in my silence and in my speech, in my haste and in my leisure, in company and in solitude, in the freshness of morning and in the weariness of the evening; and give me grace at all times to rejoice in thy mysterious companionship.

May you rejoice in that mysterious companionship today.

Amen.

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* from The Slimline Center Column Reference Bible, Tyndale House Publishers.