daily devotional

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From God Alone

Sometimes, I wander along the paths laid out by the center column references in my Bible. Often when I do that, I am given another word that is even more comforting or convicting than the verse that started me on my search.

The verse from Isaiah about the eternal Rock (the comforting verse) led me to this, the convicting passage.

If you are walking in darkness,
     without a ray of light,
trust in the LORD
     and rely on your God.

But watch out, you who live in your own light
     and warm yourselves by your own fires.
This is the reward you will receive from me:
     You will soon fall down in great torment.

First, instruction for me when I do feel in darkness, when rays of gladness and hope are few and hard to find. There is one hope, one sure thing: the LORD my God. Trust Him. Rely on Him. That’s the answer to darkness.

This reminder from the prophet does not seem to be written to someone who is far from God, who does not know the Lord. It is more of an encouragement for those dark days, when this child of God forgets. I forget the only one who can be Rock; I forget the source of all strength; I forget His faithfulness and love.

No, forget is not the right word. None of us would say we forget God … rather, we fail to focus?

When we imagine that we are walking in darkness (I am beginning to doubt that a child of God ever actually does this, even if we think we can’t see! “Darkness” is a human term, a description only of our poor sight) … When we imagine that we are walking in darkness, how often do we fail to focus on the One who is trustworthy and reliable?

He is the One who gives us light to live by.

The first verse is a reminder. The second verse sounds a harsher warning. In case we did not hear the first statement, now we are told, If you’re trying to live by your own light, failure and torment await.

And, unfortunately, this verse is the one that smacks hard when I read it. To the first reminder I give head assent. Yes, yes, I want to live in the light of God; I want to trust and rely on Him alone; I know that all my strength flows only from Him. Yes. Amen.

But I don’t always live that out. Instead, I try to shine my own light. I build my own fires that I hope will keep me warm. My light is feeble and unreliable, and my fires soon die and I’m shivering yet again.

And yet, I am so “prone to wander,” as the songwriter put it. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit, who know me so well, know that I need many reminders, and need to be called back, again and again.

Let all that I am wait quietly before God,
     for my hope is in him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
     my fortress where I will not be shaken.
My victory and honor come from God alone.
     He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy 
          can reach me.

(I love that phrase — a rock where no enemy can reach me!)

Father, I want to live in your light alone. Trust in you alone. Find my life in you alone. Lead me there, Jesus. Keep me there, Spirit.

 

Scripture: Isaiah 50:10-11, Psalm 62:5-7 (emphasis added) (both NLT)

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Eternal Rock — For All Generations

Trust in the LORD always,
     for the LORD GOD is the eternal Rock.

Brown and gold leaves crunch underfoot as I walk out the sidewalk to see Grandson and Granddaughter off on their first day of school. They are taller. Another summer ended. Another year gone by.

Born in 1900, my Grandma Kate lived over one hundred years. We often talked of all the changes she had seen in her years, things like microwaves and washing machines and jet planes and televisions and telephones. How much life changed for the young mother who did laundry with a washtub and board and lived without an indoor bathroom!

And already — although I am nowhere near one hundred! — I see how much life has changed since my early years. My grandchildren know nothing about rotary dial phones, LP records, manual typewriters, life before computers. (A black and white TV screen must surely be a sign that something is not working properly.) Just as Grandma never dreamed that someday doors would “see” her coming and open magically for her, when I was twenty, I never dreamed I would be skyping, texting, and driving according to directions from a talking black box.

So I cannot imagine what life will be like for my adult grandchildren.

I do know that they will have within them that which yearns for God. Just as my grandmother did. Just as I do. Just as blue eyes and temperaments and dimpled chins and body shapes continue to appear throughout a lineage, so every generation, since the beginning of time, carries also the need of God’s love, His strength, and His protective refuge.

Even when we cannot name what we seek, we look for

          quenching water
          everlasting love
          welcoming home

My grandma was losing her sight during her last years here. But she had eyes that saw the Invisible, and I believe that eyesight grew ever sharper as the years went by. No matter what was going on in the world around her, she depended on the strength, stability, and refuge of the eternal Rock.

When cell phones are unknown to teenagers and when travel from one place to another is by means not even conjured up by today’s science fiction writers and when handwritten letters are seen only in museums — for as long as this earth stands and beyond — the eternal Rock will still be there.

In every generation, His hand of love holds those who come to Him. His love endures forever. We can trust in Him always.

Scripture: Isaiah 26:4 (NLT)

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Patience and Endurance

Today, Grandson and I plant on barren ground. Scattering seeds, leaving them to soak up sun and water, we hope for a sea of wildflowers next summer.

And I am reminded that I am an impatient person.

Chances are, these wildflowers will not be at the height of their glory for two or even three years. IF they germinate and take root. IF they are not choked out by other grasses and weeds. IF the mix of sunlight and shade is right. When it comes right down to it, I have no idea if I will ever see one blossom from these seeds.

But we scattered, hoping.

This morning, it was only wildflowers. But throughout my days, I plant many other seeds. I’m beginning to realize what an impatient person I am. I would prefer to see results now. I want guarantees. I grow weary of sowing, when I see nothing sprouting.

Do you grow tired of planting in hope on barren ground? Do not give up! The Scriptures encourage us.

We all know the admonishment, “Do not be weary in well-doing….” But sometimes, we do grow weary. Sometimes, we do want to give it up. Sometimes, we think all we do is in vain.

So how do we hang in there?

Willpower will not keep us in the race. Willpower is too easily convinced to quit. The only thing that keeps us hanging in there is hanging onto the Vine.

Patience is one of the fruits of the Spirit. He gives us the power to endure, even though we do grow weary, even though we might sometimes want to call a halt to the sowing.

Christ promises that His Spirit brings us the power to endure. I suspect that most of us have experienced only a tiny speck of the power and endurance that the Spirit can produce within us.

And — the strange thing that we know but that our human nature resists — it is only in the battle, in weakness, in struggle, that we learn to cling to the Vine, who builds our endurance and makes us strong.

I guess that’s why James tells us to Consider it pure joy, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. (James 1:2)

But when you cannot see the joy, when you grope in darkness for encouragement, when it seems you have nothing left within you to continue to plant hopeful seeds, then cling to the Vine.

The Father says,

Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.
             (Isaiah 41:10 NLT)

When we hold onto the Vine, the Vine holds us. And He promises victory!

We pray also that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light.   (Colossians 1:11-12)

May His power give us patience and endurance, fill us with joy, and enable us to live in our inheritance as His children.

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Weary and discouraged? “What do you choose to see?”

I am trying to open my eyes today, because it is the only thing that will keep me going. I am straining to see, looking through a dark and blurry glass.

It was by faith that Moses left the land of Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger. He kept right on going, because he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible. (Hebrews 11:27)

Moses moves the children of Israel out of Egypt, no longer afraid of the people who had kept them as slaves for 400 years.

Walking away from that which held them captive for centuries! Walking away from a power that previously crushed and crippled! Walking away, without fear.

I want to walk to freedom, without fear, keeping my eyes on the One who is invisible.

But what if today I cannot open my eyes, much less see? I am blind and captive and weary.

So I go to the Scriptures for daily manna, ask for the Bread that gives life. I ask for eyes to see, eyes of faith.

Father, let me see.

Let me see the One who is invisible. Isn’t that what faith is? Seeing God in whatever we are looking at? Seeing, in the midst of all of my life, His gifts, His glory and power, His working for our good? Eyes not open to the One Invisible see only hopelessness, no redemption.

Eyes that can see are eyes of faith, able to live.

But Father, I cannot see today! Today, I cannot walk by faith. Help my unbelief.

The answer is gentle: You have eyes, child. What do you choose to see?

It is truth. Christ, the Truth, came to open eyes that are blind. His Spirit does that now, every day.

The Spirit reminds me: I have eyes. I have just been looking at the wrong things.

I have been looking at the Egyptian slave drivers, at bricks that must be made without straw, at the king who drowns baby boys in the river, at enemies who pursue me to snatch away my freedom, at the impossible Red Sea, at barren desert around me.

I must shift my soul’s gaze.

Let us run the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith…
(Hebrews 12:1-2)

Jesus, the One who opens our blind eyes, also gives us new eyes of faith.
     Eyes to see the invisible.
     Eyes to see things that will last forever (2 Corinthians 4:18).
     Eyes to understand the hope, riches, and power given to the child of God.
            Ephesians 1:18)

Jesus, the Truth, will perfect my faith … is perfecting my faith. But if I do not keep my eyes on Him, daily take in the Living Water and Bread of Life, I become discouraged and weary.

Interesting, that the Hebrews 12 passage says that if you keep your eyes on Jesus, you won’t become weary and give up. And that’s exactly what happened to the Israelites in slavery. Even when Moses brought them God’s promise of rescue and a new land of milk and honey, they refused to listen. They had become too discouraged by the brutality of their slavery. (Exodus 6:9)

Jesus, you have opened my eyes to the Invisible One. You are Truth. You have initiated my faith. Perfect it!